


Two Boys and A Bean

by SaphChan



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Alchemy, Boys Being Dads, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I am applying a lot of stock knowledge here, M/M, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Their child is a homunculus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25050256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaphChan/pseuds/SaphChan
Summary: “The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all…”Fern often wondered about the meaning of his life, being an entity of plant, human and unknown force, to assume an identity that differs him than to be just called a cursed freak. Or a knock off of a person that is identical to him. While on the other hand, Finn wondered what it takes to raise a life that is considered meaningful, if he wasn’t abandoned in the first place. The more these two think about it, the more frustrating it can be in getting the answers they needed. Suddenly, an idea came to them at the same time, an idea that seems impossible to exist, yet possible to be done.They created a child.This changes everything…
Relationships: Fern the Human & Finn the Human, Fern the Human/Finn the Human
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> And so it begins... 
> 
> Okay, writing isn't my strongest skill, but it is a nice practice for me to make stories from my mind to text. Dunno if I wanna put my sketches here so that it'll help give everyone the picture, but just let me know and I'll try to learn how to.
> 
> This is a personal AU that I formed about a year ago, and I've created a lot of content based on this, I wanted to put this AU as a story. 
> 
> Not gonna expect this to be the best, but what matters is that I have done it and I am having fun.
> 
> So hey! Do enjoy this ride at least.

**_Knock, knock!_ **

_… Hmm?_

_Ah, a visitor by this hour? Oh do come in, don’t hesitate. Please do take a seat and wait a moment while I sort a couple of things. It won’t take too long. Ah yes indeed… It’s very nice to meet a new face every now and then._

_...Hmm? Who am I? Ah, the people here sometimes call me the Storyteller, dear friend. … You seem baffled by my appearance. They did not give you a clear description, did they? Well, do not let the looks deceive you. I may be the most unassuming, but this here is an honest figure, sitting right in front of you._

_How about you? …A medical student? Oh is that right? I was informed earlier that a guest wishes to see me. Yes, I’m aware of course. I had been awaiting your arrival, friend._

_…Bringing something to life you say? Are you trying to become a future mad doctor or something? Or… oh wait wait. I get what method you mean. Huh… I wonder what’s it like to play god with your bare hands, and build a life from scratch. Heh… I know I would._

_“The one who gets wisdom loves life…. The one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.” Someone once told me that, on the day the flowers bloom from the ashes that snow down the grassy lands. On that day as well, an additional year was added up to my lifespan._

_I was very young at that time when they shared this wisdom, as dawn breaks into the seafaring sky. I couldn’t understand their words before, for I was still a developing youth. However, as time goes by, maybe one day, I might._

_What was it like to be born different though? To be born from two living people, of two different forms of life and perspective of the world in front of them? I had heard countless rumors that I was engineered to be born as a “perfect being” ..., but I’m not. I could never be a perfect being in one’s eyes, nor was I asked to be entitled to such insignificant silliness._

_Let’s say for example, what if they do achieve the impossible and create a being that dominates the concepts of life and death? Of course, merits will be given, and people would come by, kneel down and kiss the toes of your feet like you are some sort of god or an almighty deity with a golden crown._

_But, it is no fun and games. What is it in obtaining great power and immortality worth for in the first place? Well, there is nothing at all. Nothing, but consequences. If there is no heart into achieving such a high honorable feat, then there is nothing but hollowness. Surely you were given everything that you desired ever since you were just a wee child, yet you will soon have to accept that things will come to an end. Reigning a kingdom, acquiring fame and fortune, dreaming a fantastical dream that you would wish you do not want to wake up…_

_Everything must come to an end, no matter what you do. No matter what grand plan you’ve established beforehand, there will always be a beginning with its own ending._

_And yet, what does the end lay before me? Will there be an aftermath awaiting at the end of my journey, an afterlife or will there be none at all?_

_That, I do not know. You do not know; everyone does not know. But that’s the main point._

_I, a being built from scratch, have so many things to discover. Many secrets to unveil. Will I come out unscathed from my endless journey? I do not know, dear friend. All I know is that everything is a never-ending cycle of its own._

_… Haha man, what a long monologue I have conjured up. I shouldn’t bore you nor confused you with such a philosophy._

_…Oh? You still want to stay here a bit longer? Hmm… I see your impending gaze. I guess we can talk a bit longer if I’m not wasting your time that is. How about… I tell you a story of the past. Or rather… the story of everyone’s stories, coming from all four corners of this land._

_Haha… intrigued I see? Very well then. It is not like this tale will last for all eternity. Or perhaps, it might have a fair shot of long term preservation._

_Come then, let us begin the tale, dear reader, from the years back. **Where it all began…**_


	2. Seedling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fern crashes back to their life (literally-), the Tree Fort family has the grassy boy as their roommate again, and Finn shares a bed with him.
> 
> Both sleepless and in deep thought, the two have their small talk together.
> 
> There, a seed of an idea starts to sprout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna put up the first two chapters and see how this goes. 
> 
> So weeeeee-
> 
> Again, updates will be kinda slow and at a random pace so bear in mind.
> 
> (But I'm certainly will finish this where I start you guys-)

“So you aren’t hurt or anything in particular? No plant-related tears or scars and such?”

“Besides getting a bit dirty, err… none of that sort, thanks for asking.”

“Let’s just be thankful that his vines or hair ain’t tangled in between the wheels either. It’ll be a pain to untangle him from there.”

One moment, it had been very peaceful at the lone tree fort, without the grassy occupant around since the time he drove off, stealing Starchy’s motorbike along with him. Two or three days after that, he came crashing back in their life again. Literally.

The current occupants of the fort were just minding their own business within their respective areas when the eldest heard a very loud resounding crash from nearby their station. The yellow canine headed straight towards his half-brother, exchanged a hasty conversation on who goes first to investigate in case it wasn’t an ambush or anything, and the next second after stepping out of the threshold, confronted their grassy companion, hanging upside down on his back and slightly stunned from the impact of the crash. Maybe snatching the bike and riding it would sound cool, but then again, it isn’t the best idea especially he has to consider the fact that the clone had only a considerable half of the memory bank from his original flesh and blood.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about breaking any bones or damaging internal organs since he didn’t have any in particular. A grassy ragdoll, he once described.

“There!”

Speaking of the original, the human of all blue sigh in relief after helping his grass counterpart get out of the smoking remains of scrap metal and motor oil. He didn’t pay attention to getting the extra grease on his fingertips; The sudden return of his companion was his main priority in the meantime, as he had his concerns with him even until now. His grass opposite looked up to Finn then glanced at his entire body, grimacing a little as he took note of his feet covered with traces of the greasy black oil reaching up to the knees and a little bit of it splattered on his face.

“Eugh… this stuff’s pretty bad for me, so I heard…They weren’t kidding.” Fern muttered as he grabbed a fistful of his shirt, eyeing on the staining oily slick in disgust. Even if he isn’t a science genius or a gardener, he had a fair level of awareness that oil hinders a plant’s ability to absorb moisture and sunlight, slowing down their basic processes of making their food. And as a bonus, it does feel gross when it stays there for a long time. So much for no laundry problems.

“I need a shower really bad. I ain’t letting this stuff ruin me anything else than my clothes.” He frowned, looking at Finn while sticking his tongue out.

“I agree! Let’s get ya all cleaned up!” Jake declared as he guided the two into the tree fort. “I’ll go have the water ready too!”

“May I join you as well? I’ll help out with the washing as well.” Finn offered with a kind, inviting smile on his face, a smile that Fern finds comforting and genuine that opposes and pushes away the bubbling anxieties within him. “Sides, I haven’t gotten a proper bath after being in the hospital. I probably smelled like funky chemicals by now.”

“Eh probably.” Jake shrugged as the trio headed upstairs to the bathroom, turning on the faucets to prepare the bath. The two humanoids sat by the edge of the bathtub while watching it being filled up with water.

“What brings you back here, Fern? I thought you left the place fully to start your spiritual quest of getting to know yourself better?” Finn inquired curiously as he glanced over to his grass self, who was absentmindedly splashing small amounts of water with his left hand, making numerous ripples.

“Well…” Fern looked at the water’s surface, sighing softly as he rubbed the back of his neck before having his eyes gazing elsewhere other than Finn’s face. Huh, why did he actually return here? How was he going to put it simply without sounding like a lost puppy without a real home to take him in? Sure, he did agree that he wanted to go on his own travels to learn discoveries about himself, but even after less than a day did his discomfort started to come back to him in the most annoying way as possible. It is not like he cannot defend himself or even provide himself. Heck, he does not need much providing since he can technically produce his food, repair his wears and tears, as well as navigating areas cautiously using his special plant senses. So, why exactly did he came back?

Perhaps he isn’t used to being alone without a familiar voice to talk to, to comfort him after a long day’s work. Or, he probably is just homesick. Yeah… that could be it.

“I guess I wasn’t used to being far from home alone, without a comfortable company to be with...” Fern merely shrugged, as if it was the most reasonable truth he could create. It wasn’t a lie or even a fact, but it was considered an acceptable answer in his case. Finn hummed and nodded in understanding, gently taking Fern’s right hand and lightly massaged his grassy fingers slowly. Something that he learned from his other brother, Jermaine, to lessen the stress a little.

“Yeah, I get it. It takes time so, I understand.” The human smiled softly, then reached over to pat his shoulder reassuringly. “You’re always welcome to stay here whenever you feel like it. This is your home as well, y’know.”

“I know…” Fern slowly nodded, relaxing a little and sighing as he lets Finn calm his worries away with his chatter. Once the bath was ready, the two boys got themselves undressed, sparing only their underwear (or if ever Fern _has_ underwear, to begin with), and got into the lukewarm water, both sighing contentedly as the grease started to come off of them.

“I’ll leave you both here and make us some grub. Call me when you need anything!” Jake told them before shuffling off, leaving the boys alone in the tub together. “Hmm…” Finn hummed, flexing his toes underwater as he smiled to himself. “I used to have baths like this with Jake before when we were still kids.”

“…Yeah, I know that. The memory’s foggy, but I can recall.” Fern nodded slowly as he slumped a bit into the water, his face half-submerged into the water while his flowery meadow hair spread out onto the water’s surface like a bed of discarded seaweed. His mind had been wandering elsewhere, but he tried to be responsive to Finn as much as he could think to the response. It didn’t seem to be effective nonetheless, as Finn noticed his expression right away. “Something the matter, Fern? You seem spaced out.”

“Mm…” Fern opened his eyes slightly to look up to him before sitting up straight, spilling some water out of the tub. “I was just… thinking about the usual.”

“The usual?”

“I’m still trying to figure out about myself… And, now that I know that I am not you, even if you said I am a bit like you, I was thinking… what’s the point of my existence if this isn’t mine?” Fern pulled his knees close to his chest and hugged them tightly, burying his face in between them. He hated this feeling, this heavy feeling of hopelessness and unresolved confusion, more than hating to look at himself, how worn out he is right now even if it is still too early in the day to be acting that way. “It’s so frustrating…”

“Hey come on.” Finn scooted over to gently pat him on the back comfortingly, then reached over to grab the sponge that was resting onto the rack before giving Fern a soothing scrub with it. “Don’t get so easily bummed out just yet. It’s… probably far too early to start. It takes a lot of time before something convenient happens.”

“I guess you’re right. Maybe I was a bit impatient…” Fern sighed slowly as he lets him scrub his back. It felt nice on his grassy skin, grateful that no soap was in the water since he wasn’t too sure if it is safe for someone like him. At the remaining time at the tub, the two basked in complete silence, just letting themselves soak in each other’s presence. Neither of the two wanted to admit it to each other in words, but they could tell that they missed each other’s company. Sure, they were fine with either being alone or along with familiar faces but, it was not much of a surprise that they would like to be alone, to be comfortable within themselves. They have a lot to talk about later but for now, they want to not think about the serious stuff.

Yet.

==================================================================

“I kinda don’t wanna sleep on the roof tonight.”

After their bath and had dinner together, they stayed in the living room to play video games with BMO. By the time it was getting rather late, Fern went out to sleep outside like usual, only to come back inside as he suddenly announced a short while later. Finn blinked in surprise at his return as he had just finished fixing the sleeves of his red pajama onesie, and was getting ready to hop onto his bed.

“Oh uh… why not? Too cold?”

“Something like that… uh well, not exactly. I… I just, don’t want to, maybe just for now…”

“Oh mm…” Finn looked at his bed before glancing back at Fern. “You could sleep on the couch downstairs or if you don’t wanna be lonely there, you could sleep with me.”

Fern perked up, surprised when he listened to the second option. “Y-You sure? I don’t want to be a bother or anything…”

“N-No no! It’s okay! I don’t mind at all.” Finn laughed sheepishly, sitting down on his bed. “This is technically _our_ bed, so I do not mind sharing.”

Fern hesitated at first at his offer but eventually decided to go for the second choice even though he was used to sleeping alone, and with those terrifying nightmares, he had been getting lately. _I just hope he wouldn’t notice too much that it might bother him the next time he offers this again_ , he thought with a small intake of breath. He didn’t deserve the bed, but then again, he had been denying a lot of things that he needed.

Once the two got comfortable on the single bed, having their bodies covered with furs as blankets, Jake told them a simple goodnight before putting out the lights and hopping onto his bureau drawer of a bed before falling asleep almost immediately, a light snore starting to erupt from his open lips. Fern narrowed his eyes enviously, wishing that he could doze off that easily as he did. Groaning in frustration, he stared at the ceiling, trying to at least tire himself out to finally enter into the comforting cloud of slumber. But, he just cannot, not without having his mind overrun with conflicting thoughts bouncing around, meddling his chances of falling asleep.

“Can’t sleep?”

The grass boy blinked in surprise as his companion lying next to him, the one who was supposed to be sleeping, now turned to face him, gazing on his supposed troubled look on his face. “You were moving a lot.”

“Sorry…”

“Nah it’s okay. I can’t sleep well either.”

Fern inhaled, mentally relieved that he wasn’t the only one having trouble falling asleep, but then he raised an eyebrow at him. “Why not?”

“I have a lot going in my head right now.” Finn shifted a bit to gaze at the ceiling, a forlorn expression carved on his face. “A lot of… philosophical thinking, I guess.”

“....Was it about my- I mean, your human dad again...?”

“…Maybe? I mean,” Finn glanced at Fern. “I forgave him for his past actions and… was trying to be positive ‘bout it then be thankful to him for bringing me to the life I have now. It’s just… I wonder what it would look like being raised by him instead. To be raised by an actual human parent…”

“Then you would have grown up to be a looney space pirate or something, doing petty crimes and not hero business.” Fern shrugged.

“Guess you’re right… Though, that does sound kinda cool.” Finn let out a light chuckle and sighed softly before glancing towards his side. Though honestly, he wanted to make up for the lost time, to not being able to be raised by people who are just like him, both body and soul. He wondered what it was like, to raise someone who can follow their footsteps or just guide them and give them the ability to become the person they feel like they wanted to be, like having an apprentice or something else related to that. He thought about the time he tried to foster the Jiggler, his smile fading a bit at how inexperienced he once was when the poor spawn was close to dying at some point if he and Jake hadn’t taken it back to its mother. Then again, he had gone through rough times and had started to gain more wisdom out of those crazy adventures. So, he might dare to take up the challenge and try again, would he? His grass brethren continued to stare at him at the longest silence before he took a sharp intake of breath, and exhaled shakily, deciding that it was the best to lessen his burden by taking it out.

“I know you’re already aware of my problem, but, my crisis continues to bother me even in my sleep.” He slightly gritted his teeth, forcing himself to not explode in front of Finn. Things could turn for the worse if he does so. “Fa- no, The Grass Wizard, just made the Grass Sword out of… out of sheer curiosity. Just that! I’m nothing than just a creation of some dim-witted magic fool who thinks that making a cursed blade would be so cool and awesome, not realizing that it made me! I’m nothing but a freaky plant version of you, and yet I am not you despite all the stuff I had were from you alone...” He covered his face, feeling the throbbing pain within himself becoming even more unbearable. It wasn’t fair! He was fine being in isolation inside the Finn Sword as a tiny guide, but now that he became this… unpredictable messed up fusion, all the feelings he once treasured before becoming the silvery blade, now he just wants to snuff it all out, buried them under thick layers or sealed in some invisible jar so that it wouldn’t escape or hurt anyone, including himself.

Only when he felt Finn gently patting his shoulder to calm him down a little did he notice the tears that were starting to emerge out of his eyes, on the verge of spilling out. Fern quickly wiped them off then inhaled weakly, turning his head towards Finn. “I still seek for a purpose, Finn... I do not want to continue to torture myself with the feelings that aren’t mine…”

“We’ll think of something, Fern.” Finn softly ran his robotic fingers onto the ends of Fern’s hair, being oddly tender about it. This grassy copy was him, but he couldn’t help but find a strange solace in being with him despite being in turmoil. Is this the definition of selfish care? Narcissism? Maybe not, but it is oddly nice to comfort your other self, even though he isn’t him anymore. “If you think you are getting too overwhelmed with all this junk, I’m here to listen.”

“T-Thanks Finn…” Fern murmured and just lets him do the job. For a moment, there was not much to speak about, just gentle caresses and soothing words that he hoped that it will put both of them to sleep. It was nice, he thought. He never thought that Finn can act so kind and careful, so… motherly in a sense. It made him think back to what Finn talked about earlier.

“Hey, Finn?”

“Yeah?” Finn paused from his petting to look at Fern.

“I was just thinking… what would be like if you can raise something to follow your footsteps, like um… being a mentor or a parent figure to someone?”

Finn blinked in surprise at his question. That was his initial thought earlier as well. “W-Well I would go all out and make sure that he or she doesn’t get into trouble but ehehe… I’m not too sure if I can do it after…” He trailed off a bit then asked, “What about you?”

“Mmmh…” Fern furrowed his brows a little. “… I want to know my purpose, but at the same time, I don’t wanna mess it up. If I did, then I’ll be even more confused than ever.” He bit his lip slightly. “But, I don’t want to put someone else in my footsteps. I may be ruthless, but I ain’t that low enough to be THAT ruthless to others.”

“I can understand that…”

“Ugh… I-I don’t know how though…”

“Hmm…”

“If only I could see how it goes without ruining any of it.” They both said at the same. Suddenly, the two boys sat up straight simultaneously, as they had an idea stuck in their heads at the same time. It could work! It just might be the biggest thing close to a solution yet! “….Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Fern?”

“Maybe… Maybe not. But, I think I know what you might be thinking…”

“Perhaps it can be possible! It had been done several times. Science and magic had solved a bunch of stuff, so why not this?”

“You might be right… so, I think I know what we’re gonna plan for tomorrow.”

Finn grinned slowly, nodding in agreement at their assumingly brilliant idea of their own as he looked at his equally grinning grass self. It may sound a bit far-fetched but, it could just work somehow.

Yeah, it will absolutely work for sure.

“Let’s make a kid.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism is appreciated!
> 
> Also, I think text minimum is non-existent in this story, LMAO.
> 
> Stay well everybody! Until the next chapter, nyah~


	3. Genesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys meet up with Princess Bubblegum and inform her about their idea. She was skeptical about it at first, but eventually agrees and gives them an errand for them to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sighs* Online college classes are crazily hectic... I swear.
> 
> But hey, a new chapter!
> 
> Like, I said I update this story slowly because of school so, I don't have a very organized schedule sadly. But, I'm trying to work on the story within my spare time so... yeah.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy!

****

“…So let me get this straight.”

The gum-based candy princess turned her lounging chair slowly to face the two young males, raising a suspicious eyebrow after listening to their strange request. “You both came all the way here to see me, meet in my office in private, and suddenly… you asked me to create a child?”

“Eh… yeah?” Finn sheepishly scratched his head with a nervous smile on his face. “You’ve created so many Candy people before so… we thought that your science can do this.”

The princess sighed at this. “Finn,” She slowly stood up from her chair with a grim expression on her face. “Creating a stable life form is not all fun and games, and you are aware of the consequences it could make when it is treated in the wrong way, instead of its intended purposes.”

“I know that! I’m fairly aware of that, PB. Of what you’ve created...” Finn frowned slightly, looking at his feet as he recalled the few times something like that happened. There was the previously unstable Lemongrab, then Goliad who was taught the harsher and more dangerous method to take over the kingdom. Even the Lemon people who, despite not being created by the princess, caused immense trouble. “But!” He darted his determined gaze back at her, being utterly serious about their idea. “I’ve handled responsibilities like these before! I-I once took in and raise a lost baby before. No, that came out the wrong way that I wanted to put in words, b-but hah… just give us a chance, Bonnie.”

The princess narrowed her eyes before letting out a long exhale of breath. “Hah… okay, but I want to know, why do you both want to go down this route? You boys are barely even eighteen yet, and raising an artificial life form is huge, and I mean, a HUGE responsibility.” She stressed the word ‘huge’ like it is a big deal. And really, it is a big deal when it comes to creating artificial life, especially when it comes to their early stages of development and basic learning skills. Anyone whose hands are stained with evil could affect the life form almost instantly, taking all the false knowledge and truths in.

Just like what happened with her candy sphinx.

Finn took a deep breath, nodding slightly. “Yeah, but that’s not stopping me. Bonnie, you’ve made a hundred of these Candy peeps and that definitely is MORE than a huge responsibility. We’re just asking for only one, and just one! Nothing more.”

“But then why exactly do you ask for a kid?”

“Because Finn and I are frustrated yet intrigued, princess.”

The two turned over to Fern, who was just behind there, listening to them. “Finn wanted to find a way to make up for the lost time he didn’t spend with his human dad while I wanted to find a… purpose. Something that can tell me that someone like me deserves to live.”

“Is that true?” Princess Bubblegum turned her face towards Finn, sporting an unreadable expression on her face. Finn slowly nodded as a confirmation, his eyes holding the intense unconcealed feelings of doubt and determination. “Yes, Bonnie.” He clenched his fists tightly. “We were really hesitant into asking you this, but you were our only hope of having chances like this to succeed. I don’t think magic can solve this, so we picked the option of science, and here we are.” Fern nodded in agreement to what Finn said, being a humanoid creature born from a magical curse himself.

Bonnie looked at both of them with uneasiness bubbling within her guts. A certain part of her wanted to reject this idea so badly. She didn’t want grave mistakes caused by her ignorance towards her creations to happen again, most especially if that creation gets involved with the two’s actions. She glanced over to one window, having a consistent view of the two candy sphinxes perching on one side of the candy walls, trapped in a form of a psychic battle between one another. No, she didn’t want her creations to turn against her or them in particular, but on the other hand, something inside her says to trust them. She isn’t blind towards the physical AND mental changes Finn experienced, and now that he had gone through them, it might be possible that he could face the challenge. As for Fern, she knew that he is still struggling to find his bearings, but from what she can tell, he looks like he can take up the responsibility. Plus, he had a lot of extras. If he is prepared early, he could do a lot more than standing idly unless given a command to do something.

After a while, the princess gave in, giving them a slight nod of her head, as well as her high hopes that they knew what they are up against. “…Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Really?!”

“Mhm.” She genuinely smiled with a hint of seriousness. “I’ll give you boys a chance, however, don’t come blaming me if it goes rogue, okay?”

“T-That’s great! Do you hear that Fern? She’ll do it!” Finn glanced at Fern, who just exclaimed an excited ‘yes’ with a wide smile. Then Finn immediately thought of something else after the small inner celebration.

“Wait!”

Bonnie blinked in surprise at Finn’s sudden outburst. “What is it now, Finn?”

“Um well…” Finn bit his lip, growing nervous. “T-This sounds a lil’ bit… nitpicky and too much but…” He swayed his head to the other side, not wanting to see the kind of expression PB would have when he dictates the idea in his head. “Can you… somehow make the kid not… candy? Like… make it more like human and plant-like, sorta like that…?”

Bonnie’s eyes widened in surprise, pausing herself from sorting her formula notes. “A-A non-candy child? Finn, you’re not joking here are you?” When she got her answer from just a steady shake of his head, she held her forehead as she slowly sat back down on her seat. A… human-plant homunculus? An organic being that is far from her range of capabilities? Something like that would be impossible to make sense since humanity seemingly disappeared from the faces of this world years ago but… no, it can be achievable, in some way possible. “…Finn, this is beyond what limit of science I can do. But…” She slowly inhaled and stood up from her chair and went over to one of the bookshelves to search for an old textbook. “Wait a moment… there might be something that could help in making this possible… Aha!”

Bonnie pulled it out of the bookshelf and placed the worn-out leather-bound book on her desk, blowing out the dust off of it. “I remembered reading something about making an artificial life form, without having to go through the natural processes of producing one.”

“There’s a natural way?”

“Yeah but it’s a lot more… dynamic.” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “But anyway! It seems that there are certain ingredients that might seem complicated to find, however, they aren’t. See here?” Bonnie pointed to a picture of plant having something thin and papery being extracted off of its leaf by a pair of tweezers. “That boys, is what science called a plant tissue.”

“Like tissue paper?”

“Not tissue paper. It’s like moist beef jerky that makes up the meat.”

“Ooh…” Finn tilted his head in confusion, while Fern is fascinated by this discovery even if he doesn’t understand anything at all.

“If my analogy is correct, reproducing the plant out of the tissue of the original… using this method is similar to my being able to produce Bun Bun from Cinnamon Bun’s leftover scraps. And I think it can be done similarly with humans, but slower. But what if… combining the two…” Bonnie thought of all the possibilities of a human-plant hybrid reproduced in the lab to have, as well as the variations of what it can turn out. Maybe it might result in the same way as Fern. Or, in the sense of basic genetics, would have more percentage of being human-like Finn. Who knows? What she does know is that she finds herself definitely invested in this project. She had produced so many variations of the Candy People filling her kingdom, so why not try something different from her usual workflow? It could be interesting and fun, she thought with an eager look on her usually formal face. Dangerous, but fun.

“Well, it looks like I have a lot of decoding and research to go through.” Bonnie scanned through the book for other texts that might peak her interest. There was a certain section that draw her attention quickly as she pulled out a spiral bound notebook from one of the desk drawers, going through the pages until she got to the page containing the notes on the elements of Ooo. She had been studying more about them after the kidnapping incident with Patience St. Pim, wanting to see the other capabilities that is beyond her understanding of alchemy. “The other ingredients needed seem to have the components that behave similarly as that of the four main elements present in Ooo…”

“Fire, candy, slime, and ice?”

“Exactly! So if that’s the case,” PB looked up from her book. “As a small favor, I want you boys to go collect a concentrated sample of the other three elements for me.”

Finn raised an eyebrow at that. “A concentrated element? Uh, but how exactly are we going to get the stuff? Does it have to be extracted with some kind of technique or weird gadget?”

“Nah. Just collect it in its most natural form! And do not worry about the ice. I have something that can keep the elements intact until they are delivered into the lab. In addition to that…” Bonnie glanced back down at the book. “I would need some sort of reactive binding serum. Something to help the elements cooperate with the other ingredients and each other as well so that the homunculus has a stable growth process. It’s not that complicated to find a substance like that. Just something that can regrow or regenerate cells or, in magical terms, heal you.”

“Like that weird white stuff that changed the Lich into Sweet P and also fixes your dad’s leg…?” Fern whispered to Finn so that Bonnie wouldn’t hear. Finn blinked at what his grass clone said. Yeah, that could work! He hadn’t told anyone else about it, including Jake (Fern only knew that since he had a copy of Finn’s memory bank), but he kept a bottle of the Citadel Guardian’s blood somewhere in the bedroom for safekeeping. He wondered why at first he kept it with him, despite that it cannot fix his missing arm. Nonetheless, he thought that it might be useful in the future, and right now, it seems it might come in handy after all.

“I think I know where to get that serum, so I guess we don’t have a problem with that.”

“Then that’s settled!” The princess slammed the book shut and nodded. “You two must collect the other three elements as well as the binding serum so that I could start working on the child as soon as possible. And do not worry about the remaining stuff that we’ll also need for making it. I’ll handle that.” Finn and Fern grinned at her, happy that she complied with their request. “Thanks, PB!”

“Okay, wait right here. I’ll go retrieve the things you’ll need for the collecting.” Bonnie then walked out through the door to fetch the equipment, leaving the boys alone. Fern peeked at the window where the candy sphinxes came into view and watched them with a slight frown on his face. “Finn?”

“Yeah Fern?” Finn went over to him, concern written on his face as he noticed his expression. “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t want the kid to end up that way.” He muttered, continuing to frown as he watched. Finn looked to where Fern was staring at and sighed as he placed a reassuring hand over his shoulder. “The kid won’t end up like that, and we’ll make sure of it.”

“But what if the kid ends up like that?” Fern looked at Finn. His uneasiness was starting to resurface, trying to ruin his excitement. “What if they’ll end up being led to the wrong way and become like that? What if we messed this up big time? Who knows how dangerous they might become if we screw it up!”

“Hey hey, it’s going to be okay!” Finn grasped his shoulders with a small smile on his face. “We won’t donk it up like the last time. I’m very, very sure that we can do this. We’ll… we’ll also ask others to give us help in case we need it! Trust me, Fern. What matters more is that we take good care of them, no turning back.”

“R-Right… Okay.” Fern steadied himself and swallowed, nodding anxiously. “W-We can do this…”

“Alright, I’m back!” The boys perked up to hear PB returning with the equipment at hand. “And I hope I didn’t disturb anything too important…”

“O-Oh! It’s no big deal, ehehe…” Finn lets go of Fern’s shoulders, the two having a slightly dark flush on their cheeks out of embarrassment. What a way to break the comforting mood.

“So here’s this specialized containment that I designed myself to preserve the reagents, which will be kept in these jars.” Bonnie handed the containment to Finn while Fern took hold of the palm-sized wide jars, big enough to hold a lot of the sample within them. “Now remember, your task is to retrieve the elements of fire, ice, and slime in its concentrated, dense form. And I will also need the binding serum for the creation to be set in place. Do not worry about the extra bits because I’ll cover that for you. Is that clear?”

“Clear as a flute, PB!” Fern gave her a thumbs up. “It’s ‘clear as a whistle’, Fern.” Finn laughed sheepishly, then smiled up at her. “Thanks… for all this, princess.”

“No probs, Finn. Just remember boys, what will happen soon will be a tough challenge to face. If you wish to back out of the idea, feel free to tell me early as you possibly can.”

“We will!” And with that, the boys left the Candy Kingdom in their ingredient collecting quest.

“… Oh, by the way, is Jake with you two?”

“He’s in my shirt pocket, chilling.”

============================================================

“First stop is the Fire Kingdom. If that’s okay with you.” Finn informed Fern as the two were walking along the path that would take them to the aforementioned kingdom, the containment being carried by Fern while the reagent jars are stored within Finn’s backpack. Fern nodded, adjusting the containment’s included leather strap over his shoulder while taking in the sights in front of him. “Sure, but we better get the shield spell first ‘cause we all know, that I am made of grass. Who was that guy who can do that…?”

“Flambo?”

“Y-Yeah, him.” He nodded.

“He just hides anywhere nearby the kingdom. Not too far, unless if he wants to go loiter further for a reason.” Finn shrugged and continued to go along the path. ‘Dang, I should have brought some spare coal if I had to make it quick.’

It turns out that, midway in getting to the kingdom, he didn’t need to because they found the flambit munching away some coal dumped out from a broken cart. He paused from eating coal when he saw the two approaching him, giving them a friendly wave.

“Heyya fellas! I didn’t remember there were two Finns!” Flambo greeted cheekily as he stood up and swallowed his recently chewed-up lump of coal in one gulp. Finn raised an eyebrow as he studied him up and down carefully, taking an observation on his physical changes. Since when did he suddenly became a bit tall and have clothes?

“Oh, I’m not Finn. I’m Fern the Human.” His grass twin introduced himself to Flambo and raised the same expression as Finn did. “You look really… different since the last time I-no Finn, saw you Flambo. Did you get a new haircut?”

“Oho silly billy! Flambits do grow pretty fast, ya know. So what can I get ya for today, fellas?”

“We’re heading over to see Phoebe at the Fire Kingdom, and we need you to cast Flame Shield on us since well… I’m meat and bones while Fern’s all grass.” Finn pointed out.

“Well I’ll be happy to do so, and also take you along to the kingdom as well! I just gotta pack up all this lovely coal and we’ll be good to go! Fair enough?”

“Fair enough. Thanks!”

==================================================================

“So you’re planning to have a kid, Finn? Since when did you ever come up with an idea like that?” Phoebe inquired skeptically as the three were at the throne room, waiting for the fire element to be collected.

The boys had arrived at the scorching lands that are the Fire Kingdom, with Flambo already cast the Flame Shield on both Finn and Fern as they got there. They made their way to the throne room, where their fiery kingly friend sat on her throne in her formal leader pose as usual. She insisted that they could just sit on some seats that will be provided by her subjects, but they politely declined to say that they don’t mind at all since they won’t be staying too long.

“Erm… it was sorta out of the blue.” Finn responded awkwardly, tugging the collar of his shirt slightly. “And… I know that you might not like the sound of it, but it will be done in a science kind of way.”

“I’m slightly afraid of how it will turn out to be completely honest, but…” Phoebe sighed softly and nodded. She knew that the child would still be one of Princess Bubblegum’s creation per se, but it is a relief to hear that they would still be under the ownership of the Mertens duo. “If it satisfies you both, I guess I’ll let this slip by. Besides, I do admit, I want to see how they would turn out since you are human and Fern is grass.”

“Mm… maybe they’ll look like us in general. But uh, different in a way? Err… I don’t know.” Finn scratched his cheek meekly. Honestly, he sometimes wondered if he would turn out to be like Fern. Then again, he is no expert to DNA or genetics, whatever PB calls that subcategory of science. ‘Science is a multitude of stuff, Finn. It doesn’t focus on only one group of things, but many groups as well!’ She once said to Finn. How would he know? He isn’t that of a genius after all. But then, he would assume that the child would like certain stuff that the two likes, and have a mix of fairly good traits. Yeah, fairly good ones only, hopefully.

“Here is the contained flame, your Highness!” One of the subjects that Phoebe assigned to do the retrieval returned with a tray containing the reagent jar filled with swirling lava. “I hope I did not waste your time waiting for us to get it.”

“Oh no no, it’s alright Lui. Thank you.” Phoebe smiled and took the reagent jar from him before giving it to Finn, who placed the containment down to store the jar carefully.

“I do too want to know about the child too, Finn.” Cinnamon Bun then came inside to join the trio by the throne. “The princess may not have perfected her creation in making me, but I wish to see how would she accomplish such a feat.”

“Oh boy, I have a ton of planning to do about that…” Finn sweated anxiously. Already, he felt like he had a load to go through if he is going to attempt parenthood again. He could sense Fern feeling the same thing as he does, thinking he might have those memories of those moments as well.

“Nonsense, Finn! I am sure you and your grass copy would do just fine handling him or her. Just make sure he or she won’t become evil! Haha!” Cinnamon Bun grunted in laughter, which Finn couldn’t help but crack a smile on his optimism.

“We won’t, CB.”

==============================================================

“A kid? Well, that’s something that I wouldn’t expect from two lads who look like each other.”

“It’s a long story, SP…”

After their stay in the Fire Kingdom, the two had made their way to the Slime Kingdom to meet up with Slime Princess, who took them immediately inside to her room to talk. She had assigned one of her subjects to retrieve the ingredient while they have a light conversation. She was also intrigued in meeting Fern for the first time, taking note of how he is almost an identical copy of Finn, but with some noticeable differences.

“And you must be Fern the Human. It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”

“Er… I suppose so, Slime Princess.” Fern smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He perked up a bit after a while. “So you’ve heard of me?”

“Well of course! News spreads a lot between us princesses. Also one of my subjects said they saw you once riding a hoverbike.” She giggled.

“I mean I’ve tried…” Fern pouted and sank slowly out of embarrassment, remembering the fact that he broke Starchy’s bike after stealing it from him. He would have to apologize to him soon if they ever crossed paths again.

“So going back to the whole child topic… Are you certainly sure that you can take such a daunting task? Even though you two are barely at a legal age at this point? Especially Fern here, if I am correct.” Slime Princess added, glancing over to Fern who was fiddling on the strap of the containment. She was right. It was hardly even a month when Fern came into existence and, although he does have most of Finn’s memories, he is still developing as his person. Well, he handles Neptr just fine but-

“I-I can do it.” Fern looked up to her, tightening his grip on the strap as he chewed on his lower lip.

“If I wish this to happen, then I should not back down from it even if it is a… daunting task, as you would call it. My creator failed to be the ‘father’ figure and see me nothing more than a servant and not as a son. I don’t want to end up being a sore loser than that crummy old fart! So, so…”

By the time the slime reagent was delivered into the room, Slime Princess and Finn were huddling over an overly distressed Fern, who covered his face to muffle his agonized screams.

===============================================================

“So… you dudes are gonna have a baby?!”

“Wenk.”

“B-But not in that way though!”

Finn and Fern’s face turned to deep shades of red and dark green at what the Ice King could think of when they told him about the making of their kid. No, they cannot lay eggs that give birth to magical cats as Gunther would! That’s absurd! Then again… they still question the concept of childbirth and how it works.

But again, of course, they couldn’t do that!

The two had intentionally put the Ice Kingdom as their last stop because one, the ice element had to be retrieved as a solid and not as a liquid. And two, snow and plants don’t mix well together. Or, at least that’s what Finn’s common sense told him so. Hence why he was thankful that he got the conscience to the very least get Fern a pair of wooly gloves, snow boots, and a scarf from the market before heading over to the always snowing kingdom.

“I am almost certain that a baby would be too much for us to handle… Probably as much as a… kindergarten could be enough.” Fern sighed, not sure of himself if it was the proper word to describe the type of child the two would get comfortable with.

“Well…” Ice King clicked his tongue while waving his hands over an orb of ice he was currently making at the moment as Finn kept watch over Gunther to make sure he doesn’t get the reagent jar and break it into pieces. “It does sound weird but hey! Being a grandpa sounds cool, heh.”

“Can you even handle being a grandpa to a humanoid boy?”

“Pretty sure I can! I mean don’t I look like one?”

“… You’ve made your point.” Finn cleared his throat and looked at his feet awkwardly, still keeping the bottle out of Gunther’s reach. Fern remained to keep an eye on the orb of ice as the Ice King puts the final touches on the cold sphere.

“Okay boys, here’s the ice ball as promised!” He gave them a toothy grin as he placed it into the reagent jar that Finn extended over to him. Once it is settled inside, Finn screwed the lid of the jar securely before placing it into the containment with the other two jars.

“Guess that’s all of them.” Fern hummed as he closed the containment again and readjusted its straps before slinging it over his shoulder. He twitched slightly due to the cold nipping on his skin, despite wearing some decent snow wear. Finn took note and stood up from his provided seat.

“We better get going. Fern can’t stand the cold for too long.” Finn explained as he patted Fern’s shoulder, giving him a small nod of understanding.

“Alright dudes! Good luck with your kid making or something!”

Bidding farewell to Ice King and Gunther, the two left the Ice Kingdom and made their way over to the direction of the Tree Fort first before heading back to the Candy Kingdom. Now that they have gathered the required elements, all they need now is the bottle of Citadel Guardian blood that Finn secretly stored at a certain location within the fort and they should be good to go. The two got inside as soon as they arrived at the porch, with Fern already starting to take off his scarf.

“I’ll go get the bottle while you go dry yourself,” Finn told him as he made his way up to the bedroom through the ladder. Fern set the containment down and snatched a randomly discarded cloth from the floor to dry himself up, before tossing it to who knows where it went. A moment of waiting later, Finn came back down, holding a long-necked bottle filled with a syrupy translucent substance. “Got it!”

“Neato.” Fern smiled a little, letting Finn store the bottle inside the containment for safekeeping.

“Shall we head back?”

============================================================

The two eventually made it back to the Candy Kingdom, having all the necessary materials needed in their inventory. Being led by Peppermint Butler, they make their way over to Princess Bubblegum’s laboratory downstairs at the basement sections of the castle. The containment Fern was shouldering on swung gently from side to side, not too much as the jars and bottle inside would break, which could ruin the elements inside and backfire the experiment. Stepping through the large double doors, Peppermint Butler announced their arrival before letting the two through.

“Oh boys, you’re back! Did you get everything we need for this experiment to work?” Princess Bubblegum inquired as she approached them, already wearing her signature lab gown with her pink hair tied to a tight bun. She had been combing through some old research documents dated even as far as centuries ago, before coming up with a revised copy for the experiment, to ensure that the result would be a success. Or at least they tried.

“Yep!” Finn nodded to Fern as he placed the containment down next to their feet. “All three of the needed elements, plus the binding serum you’ve requested.”

“Excellent! With these, we could start as soon as possible.” Bonnie looked pleased as she took them out carefully one by one and set it on the table. She then gestured them to come closer to her as she set her clipboard down, which contained the list of ingredients for the modified candy creature making stew.

“Okay boys, since you both requested a non-candy homunculus to be born, I had to swap out some of the ingredients that I previously used to make Goliad and Stormo. So here,” She pointed at the text written on the list. “I replaced the candy creature base with tissue culture base that I luckily happen to find some around. The amino acids will join in with the elements that you both collected. Algebra follows, then the binding serum that you have. The last thing we need is your DNA. Both of your DNA.”

“Our DNA?” Fern tilted his head curiously.

“Wait so, instead of one, two DNAs are needed?” Finn blinked at her, looking puzzled.

“Well yeah. Because you yourselves are gonna be the biological parents to this boy or girl, might as well they inherited both of your DNA as proof that he or she is your child.” Bonnie giggled a bit.

“Oh…” Finn glanced at Fern then back at Bonnie. “I think my hair would be enough to be counted as DNA but… what about Fern’s?”

“Hmm… Fern, take off your hood for a moment please?”

“Oh uh, sure…?” Fern raised an eyebrow but did as he was told, letting his tangled locks spill out and his blossoms exposed. Bonnie then took a smaller bottle and a small brush, going in front of Fern before delicately brushing the inside of each flower.

“Uhm… what are you doing?” He asked her skeptically, feeling a bit of discomfort but not too bad at all.

“I’m trying to carefully harvest the pollen of your flowers. This would be your DNA sample, and it would work the same way as Finn’s hair.” She explained as she continued to gather as much pollen as she can retrieve. When she thought it was enough, she lets him go and held up the bottle filled with powdery pollen towards the pair.

“Well, that’s everything we need to make the child! Guess now’s a good time to start working on it!”

“Alright!” Finn sounded both nervous and excited at the same time.

She handed the bottle of his pollen to Fern and clapped her hands together.

“Let’s begin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, constructive criticism and suggestions are appreciated ^^


	4. Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Creature creation begins.
> 
> Oh and Jake just woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God everything's been hectic lately. I need time to refine the other chapters but procrastination plus college homework wants to kick me on the butt. 
> 
> But hey! I have a chapter that I can put up so.... :3 Enjoy!

It was close to dusk when the trio started to make preparations for the creation process, and many things needed to be done for it to work. Fortunately, an extra pair of helping hands was in order as Jake emerged from Finn’s shirt pocket after taking a small nap and grown back to his standard size. He got the gist of what would be going down and is happy to assist them out, especially if the idea sounds odd in his ears.

“I guess this is the first time we would see how she makes her people from scratch. Isn’t that cool?” The yellow canine inquired as he helped out with carrying the huge cauldron to the center of the room to prepare the stew.

“Yeah! Even though I got no clue how she does it, I bet it would be fun to watch.” Finn shrugged and laughed a bit as Jake carefully sets the iron cauldron down. Meanwhile, Fern rearranged the ingredients on the table according to the list given to him, making sure that he did it right; otherwise, he could screw up the entire process. He didn’t want to mess this up, never in his wildest dreams would he ever want their child to be even more messed up as he is. He looked down to his hands and sighed softly, barely noticing the presence of a figure approaching him.

“Are they ready, Fern?”

He perked up and turned to see that it was just only Bonnie. He inhaled slightly and nodded, managing a small smile to form on his face.

“Y-Yeah they’re all arranged in order, just as you said.”

PB nodded then glanced over to Finn and Jake, waving at them to signal that it is time to start. Fern let out a sigh as he went with her to join the other two. He didn’t want them to worry about what was going in his mind right now. Not that it is too important to talk about.

Peppermint Butler started the massive fire to heat the cauldron as the three boys brought in buckets of water to fill up the cauldron. As they were busy delivering bucket after bucket, Bonnie brought up the large jars containing the tissue cultures of both plants and humans, both suspended in a preserving liquid of unknown chemical composition or origin. How did she even acquire the human tissue in the first place is beyond a mystery to everyone, but that is not the point. What matters is that the whole experiment should not backfire, as creating beings requires strict guidance during each procedure. One wrong move and everything else will fail, which is something she wouldn’t want to happen.

She extracted each piece out of their respective jars using a pair of tongs and dropped the pickled flaps of cellular tissue into the cauldron, dyeing the water in a greenish-yellow color. “Okay, hand over the rest of the ingredients, boys!” She spoke out while observing the slowly simmering liquid.

“You got it, Bonnie!” The trio retrieved them and went back to join her along.

“Amino acids first, then the elements…” PB hummed as she uncorked the bottles and dumped the amino acids inside. She picked up the jars next and unscrewed the lids of each as she deposited the first three elements into the liquid. After that, she puts those down, then clasped her hands together and concentrated very hard until she held her cupped hands over the concoction. From her hands, a generous handful of jelly beans spilled out from the palms of her hands and was soon dissolved instantly into the mixture.

“Jelly beans?” Jake raised an eyebrow at her. “Can’t you be any more specific?”

“That’s all I got for now, Jake. Besides, I do not like using my elemental power too often….” She mumbled the last part and frowned slightly but maintained her composure as she tossed in some ‘algebra’ into the mix (though from what they have seen, she just threw in a piece of paper containing a written formula that is indecipherable for them to understand). The serum followed this, with Finn assisting her in pouring the faintly glowing syrup into the bubbling concoction.

“I’ve never seen this substance before, Finn. Where in Ooo did you get that…?” She asked as he finished emptying the contents of the bottle.

“Err well, it’s a secret Peebs. A huge secret that I cannot tell you… sorry.” He sheepishly scratched his cheek, not wanting her to get involved in traveling to that crystalline imprisonment ever. Then again, he did tell her about Sweet P, but the rest of the details were kept vague.

“Oh alright. I understand.” She nodded a little, deciding to not push the subject further and get back to the concoction. “Alright, it’s looking great so far! Now all that’s left is your DNAs, boys, and then the mixing can commence!”

Finn smiled and nodded as he pulled his bear cap down, letting his golden mane of hair fall off.

“I got ya, bro!” Jake went over to him and plucked a strand of his hair off before handing it over to him. “Hope for the best!” “Hope for the best indeed!” Finn nodded looking over to Fern, who uncapped seemed the bottle and peered at its contents in thought before taking a deep breath. He was anxious.

“Fern, what’s wrong?” Finn inquired worriedly

“Hah… I just… well…” Fern chewed his lip as his face gradually scrunched up. “I don’t want them to have my messed-up DNA or something… Maybe adding my own DNA would turn them into something worse…”

“But Fern! You’re not that bad of a dude either!” Finn exclaimed, placing his hands over his shoulders while keeping ahold of his strand of hair. “Maybe the child would be born as cool as you! Think about it!”

“Finn-“

“You’re a great guy Fern! Don’t think that our kiddo gonna have your bad stuff! They’ll turn out great, I swear.”

“Mmngh…” Fern looked down at the bottle once again and thought to himself, having the urge to just throw away and not get into lab experiments similar to the one they are in right now. He didn’t want their child to end up as a failed creation. Just like…

No.

What was he doing?

He’s holding himself back again! Sure, he IS a somewhat ‘failed’ creation, but no, he is still a living person with a chance to live through a different path than his intended one. No, he isn’t a complete failure nor a mistake at all. And after his last soul search for answers, he was still left with frustrations but decided not to let him eat off what little confidence he has left within himself. ‘And I will make sure he or she won’t experience these bad feelings, ever.” He added that mental thought for himself.

“…Okay I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

Fern gave Finn a reluctant smile and a small nod. “Yeah… I don’t wanna back this out. Only a coward would do such a thing.”

“Well, you don’t have to force yourself to do this if you don’t want to… It’s okay for me.”

“Trust me, Finn. I want this to continue.” Fern sternly replied, grasping his shoulder as he looked at him. He shall not falter due to his fear; he won’t let it win against his reasonable judgments this time. “I do wanna that I am afraid of what’s gonna happen right now, but whatever’s gonna go down next I’ll be ready for it.”

“Okay…” Finn swallowed but gave him a determined smile and a nod in return for his gesture. “Then let’s give this liquid a taste of our DNA!”

Nodding, the two looked back at the cauldron before dropping the golden hair strand and pollen into the mixture as both of these dissolved immediately. The concoction soon radiated a greenish-gold glow as PB started mixing it straight away.

“It’ll take me too long to completely mix this all together, so some extra help would speed this part up!”

“On it!” Finn, Fern, and Jake nodded as they went to fetch the spare candy stirs and helped her with the mixing. For her it would take about 2-3 hours to finish the mixing, but because it is a different formula in comparison with her previous Candy People making formulas it could take her no more than 6-8 hours, probably even more than that if she pauses every often. However, with their help, it shortens the duration of thoroughly mixing the liquid to an estimate of 3 hours.

“Whew… That should be enough, guys.” They stopped stirring and placed the candy stirs down as PB proceeded to douse the fire.

“Once this cools down to a considerable temperature, I’ll have this mixture run through a specialized machine to process this into a decent consistency. Then had the thickened mixture go through another machine where it molds and incubates it into a more solid and organic form. Once that’s done, that should be it!”

“That’s it?” Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Well…” PB picked up her clipboard again and scanned through her documents again before looking up. “It’s common that babies or young children should go a further examination to see if they are born healthy and have no genetic defects so there’s that.”

“Genetic defects…” Fern muttered, looking at his feet anxiously.

“Hey now, don’t fret man! I’m sure the boy or girl will be fine.” Finn squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Fern glanced back up at Finn and smiled feebly. “If you say so…”

As soon as the mixture was cooled enough, PB pressed a button on one of her operating computers that lowers a set of chains over the cauldron, for which the group attached each chain hook to each of the integrated loops around its body. She pressed the button again and the cauldron was lifted before being taken to another room, for which the group proceeded to enter inside. As what she said earlier, the cauldron was tilted at an angle as it pours its cloudy mixture into a large machine. PB sat down by her monitors and typed a series of codes as the machine began to churn the entire mix at moderate speeds.

“Whoa…” Fern peered through the transparent window of the machine and marveled at how it was doing. ‘So this is how a creature is made if it isn’t magical… or cursed’, he thought to himself as he watched.

“It kinda smells nice too.” Jake stretched his head to peek at the top of the machine. “Like cinnamon and… pine? Weird. Is that what homemade babies smell like?”

The machine eventually stopped churning the mixture as a powerful suction transferred the condensed substance into a different machine. Bonnie immediately typed away on her keyboard as it and the incubator started to shake and make loud whirring noises.

“I might have to do some maintenance after all this. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but, I supposed my machines would soon be rendered not food safe.” She turned towards Finn as she lets her incubator do the work.

“Oh eheh… sorry ‘bout that.” Finn glanced away sheepishly.

“No big deal, Finn. I’m willing to partake this project on your behalf.” She giggled and smiled at him. Suddenly, they heard an alarm setting off as she quickly swiveled her chair back to check her monitors. “Oh no! I have forgotten to check the cooling systems and now the machine’s starting to overheat!”

“What?!” Finn exclaimed in shock.

“What’s going to happen?!” Fern joined in, looking distressed as well.

“If we don’t deal with this problem, the test subject would be…” Just a glimpse of Bonnie’s dreadful look is enough to tell them that things won’t end well.

“Then we better skedaddle and fix this as soon as possible!” Jake told her.

“Right! Grab the buckets and start filling the large pipe over there! Peppermint Butler, open the panel and turn on the valves! Make sure there is no leakage!”

In a flash, everyone started to work on their assigned tasks as quickly as they can. The boys delivered buckets of water and filled up the large pipe behind the incubator while Peppermint Butler glided around, switching on the valves and checking for possible leakage.

“There are two or three visible leaking spots, princess! Unfortunately, they’re too wide and deep to repair!”

“Drat!” She hissed, gritting her teeth. “Even if the water’s plentiful enough to cool it down, it could delay the process even further!”

“I got this! They don’t call me a stretchy iron dog for nothing!” Jake discarded the bucket and bolted through the location of the leaking pipes. Once he took a note from Peppermint Butler to where the pipe cracks are, he stretched his entire body out and wrapped each crack tightly, plugging the leaks and preventing water from dripping out. “Problem solved!” He barked.

“Not yet. I’m checking on the heating levels of each part of the machine to make sure they are still in a stable condition to continue.” Bonnie’s fingers tinkered the keys with such accuracy as her eyes are glued onto the monitor. Finn and Fern kept on filling the pipes with cold water, sweat, and moisture beading on their faces as they worked fast. Finally, Bonnie smacked her palm down on a button next to the machine, which opens a hatch that allows clouds of steam to erupt and disperse out of the incubator.

“We’re almost there everyone! Now pull the lever, Fern!”

“Uh okay!” Though Fern didn’t know which lever to pull since she wasn’t specific about it, he went for the first lever. They flinched as they heard a loud crash from the opposite room.

“…I meant the second lever…”

Fern didn’t say another word and obeyed as he pulled down the other lever. The incubator whirred loudly and began to make awful clanging noises, hoping that whatever is inside the incubator survives and has minimal to no damage at all. Unnerving silence soon follows as Bonnie stood wordlessly from her seat and pushed the button at the opposite side of the incubator. It coughed a few times, before slowly opening by itself. It spewed very dense clouds of fog and vapor that covered the lab in blankets of white.

“Didn’t ugh… expect it to be THIS cloudy…” Bonnie muttered and coughed on her hand as she tried to fan the clouds away with the other. Luckily, Peppermint Butler instinctively opened up the vents to make things easier for them. Everyone then redirected their eyes towards the incubator basin, nearly taking a step back as it suddenly jerked to one side.

None dared to make a move or a sound as the fog started to clear away, exposing a lump inside the basin…

=================================================================

Warmth… the first thing the homunculus felt after being given life. Well, technically the first thing that it would possess after being given life, and the princess would make sure that bringing life to something doesn’t go awry.

If Bonnie had, to be honest, creating artificial life was both something to envy and sometimes something to feel uneasy if it turns out bad like the others. Many of her creations were intentionally meant to be different from each other, with different personalities, shapes, and sizes. Some were her pride and joy and there were some that she considered as failures that need to be fixed or, as much as she is afraid to do it, ‘recycle’ if it had to be necessary. They were still her children though, and motherly instincts tend to invoke her to do things for them to be well cared for and nurtured. To the point that she even built that surveillance system that offers no amount of privacy for everyone, including certain areas away from her kingdom.

But if there was one thing that made her almost lose her guilty thoughts of not being able to directly fix a few of her creations, it would be the soaking wet figure twitching inside the incubation basin, looking around out of curiosity than confusion. And if there was one common thought going on in the heads of the other people present, it would have been;

‘So small!’

Indeed, the newborn being was small, possibly slightly taller than BMO, if they are around. Their soaked glossy skin manifested the grassy texture but the color was paler, leaning slightly on the yellowish side of the plant spectrum. Chubby fingers gripped onto the rim of the basin as wide cyan colored eyes scanned around their surroundings in awe, truly acting like a newborn baby having their own eyes open for the first time and see all the different kinds of things they can spot. What captivated them the most was the newborn’s buttercup yellow hair, silky smooth and covered in an array of flowers that differ from Fern’s hair florals; Bluish purple, scarlet red, pale yellow, and even green clovers, the reflection of summer-themed meadow, concealing most of the creature’s short frame.

“Uaah… ah...?” Soft babbling noises erupted from the spawn’s lips as it studied the entire lab, taking into detail of every nook and cranny it spots, not moving much from the large basin but just enough to spill the slightly discoloring liquid onto the tiled floor.

Finn was trembling in both excitement and nervousness while watching the chubby child inside the basin. He swallowed then took a step forward, then another then the next, taking his time to approach the eager looking creature before stopping in front of the basin. By now, the child had stopped looking at everything and started to look up towards Finn, tilting their head as if waiting for something to happen or was eager to receive something. Taking a deep shaky breath of fresh air, Finn hesitantly held up his left hand to touch the hair first, blinking and trembling in surprise as he felt the smoothness of each strand flowing out of his fingers. Then, his hand trailed down to the child’s cheeks, nearly gasping as he felt actual warmth blooming underneath their grassy skin. It felt… too real, too much of a fantasy for something like this child would have as a part plant. But, it is there. And it felt so… human. Despite having the texture that would be as similar as a lawn of nicely trimmed grass, everything else felt so human, so warm and so familiar. He didn’t realize that he started to space out for a moment when he felt his hand being seized then being made to caress their cheek. It seems that the child liked his gentle caressing, which made Finn smile fondly at the sudden demand for warm contact.

“Muaah waaamuah…!” The child continued to babble incoherently glancing back and forth with such energy, Finn was pretty sure that they could tip the basin over by accident and spill everything.

“Man, you sure have a lot of energy lil’ guy.” He softly chuckled as he stroked their silky smooth hair, taking a hint of the aroma the child’s flowers were emitting. They smelled like a summer meadow, or a vacation cabin home resting on top of a steep hill. It brings an unusual sense of happiness and warmth within him, pleasant memories resurfacing from the deepest corners of his mind. And all of these were invoked was because of the newborn sitting patiently in front of him.

“Hmm… May I check them for a moment please?” Bonnie requested as Finn moved away and allowed her to do a short examination of the child. She had readied a stethoscope as she knelt down close to the homunculus and checked them physically. She inspected their heartbeat, their pulse rate, and their body for any sign of deformity or flaw that may require further processing. After a while, she puts it down and nodded with a relieved smile. “All clear. And it seems that our newborn’s a little boy!”

“Oh really? How did you know that?”

“I know my anatomical knowledge, Finn. No further questions.” She dismissed his incoming inquiries as she stood up.

Fern and Jake soon joined them as soon as she did. As the grass double looked at the tiny boy sitting absentmindedly in his birth basin, he couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of fulfillment at what the two have created. But, it was soon accompanied by great uncertainty and a sinking feeling within his guts. His moral compass was fiddling wildly with his crisis strings. No, he wanted this. He wanted this! But he couldn’t help but think to himself; Would this backfire instead, with the boy suffering similar problems and existential dilemma as he does?

A light pat on the shoulder was enough to interrupt him from his conflicting thoughts. “Want to help in cleaning him up?”

Fern looked up to see Bonnie carrying the basin containing the boy and blinked. “Oh, sure...”

While Finn and Jake were helping out Peppermint Butler in tidying up the laboratory, PB and Fern were at the other room with the newborn. They were giving him a bath to wash the fluid off his body to prevent contamination, as the homunculus giggled and splashed water everywhere. Finn wasn’t kidding about him being very energetic and lively.

“Hah…! Looks like you’re all squeaky clean now.” PB said as Fern handed her a bath towel to dry and wrap the infant boy up. She gave him a pat on the head before handing him over to Fern. “I’ll go get them some spare clothes for now. Mind watching him over ‘til I get back?”

“Uh sure, Bonnie! No problem.” Fern smiled weakly and nodded, cradling the boy while making sure not to drop him. Once she left, he let his smile fade as he looked down at him and sighed deliberately. He can’t help but let the budding guilt settle within him, disruptive feelings starting to form a maelstrom. Was making the child a mistake? Surely no, as he let it happen. But then…

His thoughts were then interrupted by a light tugging on his makeshift hood. Blinking twice, he looked down to see the boy now staring at him curiously, tilting his head a little.

“What is it, buddy? Anything going in your lil’ mind or something…? “Fern let out a humorless awkward laugh, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the infant observing him so intensely. The boy remained quiet and still for a moment until he began to squirm vigorously in Fern’s arms.

“H-Hey! Hold still or I might drop you!” He panicked as he attempted to keep the newborn in place within his firm grip, but to no avail. Ignoring what he said, he continued to twist around in his arms until he managed to have an upright position, just slightly close enough so that his eyes are aligned with Fern’s. His tiny hands then rested on both of his cheeks, which caused him to stop panicking as he looked at him. “Mgwaah… ngangaaah…!”

“Eh…?” Fern wasn’t sure what the child was trying to do and kept still, becoming silent as he began to explore his face eagerly. If anyone else would be here beside him, it would have been quite comical to watch the child squish and meddle his facial features as if Fern is an unfinished clay bust. He remained quiet despite being slightly annoyed, making sure to seal his eyes and mouth shut in case the boy ever tried to poke his eyes or mouth. Eventually, his facial exploration ceased as he returned to staring him straight at his face. For him, it is just plain creepy and disturbing.

Fern wasn’t having it though, his patience almost dwindling. “Okay you had your fun but please don’t stare so-“

“D-Da…?”

He stopped talking when he heard the child started to babble. “….Da?”

“D-Da… D-Da…” They continued to babble, squinting his eyes, and puckering his lips as he forces himself to speak a word. He was just barely an hour old and he is attempting to try so hard to say just one word. Fern was getting worried about what should he do, as another wave of panic starts to boil, but at the same time he wants to encourage the boy to try once more.

“Y-You can do it, c’mon… I know you can.” Fern halfheartedly encourages him, still troubled but determined to boost his confidence. Eventually, the boy mustered enough willpower and control to try again.

“D-Da… D-Dad…da… D-Dad-a…! Dadda…! Dadda! Dadda!”

.... He swore to himself that he is seeing sparks go up around his face at that very moment.

Fern became stunned and speechless, his eyes widened slowly as the realization hit him hard. He did something achievable; He taught him his first word. Well, it was more of a nickname than a word but, he actually did it. He did something for once that he can actually do and, it really felt so good, so bittersweet and so gratifying. He couldn’t hold back the tears any longer as his ‘heart’ (Or core or chest whatever he may call it) swelled with pride and his nervousness vanished in an instant. Cuddling the giggling boy in his arms while still crying from his exhilarating dose of joy, he quickly went to find Finn and Jake. “Guys! Guys! I did something useful today!”

“Huh? Oh, Fern! How’s our boy doing?” Finn greeted and waved him over as he stopped in front of him, panting lightly from running. “He’s doing fine, but guess what?!” Fern asked excitedly, nearly bouncing on his feet.

“What Fern?” Jake questioned, raising an amused eyebrow at him.

“I-I got him to speak his first word!”

Finn's eyes went comically wide at the news. “No way! Really?” He immediately looked as hyped as he does.

“Yeah! Watch this.” Fern then glanced down at the boy and pointed at himself. “Okay, boy. Who am I? Who am I to you?”

The boy blinked twice at the question, but soon beamed giddily and pointed a finger at Fern. “D-Dadda! Dadda!”

Finn and Jake gasped in disbelief at what they heard, no incoherent babbling but an actual word or rather a nickname. “That’s right! Good job!” Fern grinned as he praised the boy, which made him giggle even more and nuzzled him affectionately.

“That’s superb, Fern! I-I thought it takes a very, very long time for babies to say their first words.” Finn still couldn’t believe that their son spoke his first word so early, but it was loud and clear in his ears. “I think so too… but hey! I think it’s really cool.” Fern smiled and cooed at the boy in his arms. He seemed to be growing attached to him despite his previous uncertainties.

“Oh! What should he call me then?” Finn asked as he rubbed the newborn’s head, looking at Fern. “If he calls you Dadda…”

“M-Ma….M-Mama!” The three blinked when he heard the boy spoke up again, this time with a different name as he was pointing towards him. They were silent momentarily, before they soon burst into a fit of laughter, with Finn himself grew a bit embarrassed at being addressed as such.

“A-As much as I felt like one after a few tries erm… I don’t think that’ll fit me too well.” Finn laughed bashfully, scratching the back of his head a few times. “Then how about mm…. Poppa? Would that sound good enough for you?” Jake suggested to him.

“Well…” Finn turned his face towards Fern, who hummed and nodded as he pointed towards Finn. “Not mama… call him Poppa, boy.” He instructed him gently.

“P-Po…ppa..?” The boy tilted his head, puzzled while glancing up at him. Fern gave him a nod, smiling as he stroked his hair almost lovingly. Indeed, he is surely growing attached to his little boy. “Yes, Poppa. That is Poppa.”

The boy blinked and smiled widely as he looked back at Finn and stretched his hands towards his direction. “P-Poppa! Poppa!”

“Good boy!” Finn lightly poked him on the forehead, which made him giggle as he grasped onto his mechanical hand.

“Well, it looks like you guys are having fun without me.”

They stopped at what they are doing as Bonnie reentered the room with a soft smile on her face. In her hands was the spare clothing that would be just the right size for the boy to wear in the meantime. Jake would have to go out by tomorrow and ask his wife to help him with the clothing making if they would be taking the youngster home and live with them later on.

“Did you hear him, Peebs? He spoke his first words for the first time!” Finn excitedly told her as Fern held the boy close to his chest. “Well they’re just nicknames, but yeah he did!” He agreed with Finn.

“That’s very early for him to learn how.” Bonnie blinked as she got to work on putting the clothes on him. “Then again, I supposed my creations were the same as well…” She looked at the smiling boy in Fern’s arms then glanced at Finn. “Guess the next step is naming him.”

“Hmm….” Finn pursed his lips as he was thinking of a good list of suggestions. “I ain’t that good in coming up names so um… Fern, what do you think our son’s name should be? I’m kinda short of ideas…”

“Oh well um…” Fern wasn’t too sure about what name should he give to the boy either.

“How about… We name him after a plant? Maybe a flower or a tree perhaps?” Jake offered, thinking that flower language could also help find a suitable name for the boy. Bonnie thought it was a good idea and retrieved a worn-out book of botanical plants as she opened to the first page. “It’s gonna take a long time to decide which fits him…” She sheepishly told them, as the rest except the boy groaned but gave in anyway.

Now naming someone is not that difficult, if the name raises enough appeal for all members of the group. Unfortunately, not much of the first half of the list interest them, with plant names that sounded too complicated, too feminine, or too common. The boy could only watch and examined each picture or drawing the pages have, slightly oblivious as to what was going on between and a picture book.

“Oh, that one looks pretty.” Finn paused from turning pages and pointed to a picture of a bluish violet flower with five petals surrounding small yellow stamens. “Linseed?” He read the flower’s generic name.

“Mhm, or the common flax.” PB nodded as she read. “They’re pretty common and have many uses. Like their oil used not only for cooking but for painting as well. They generally symbolize domestic life and purity.”

“Common flax huh…” Finn glanced over to the boy, who was intrigued by the picture. He shifted his gaze towards his hair, recalling how his florals were different from Fern’s very own. The blue ones caught his eye the most, seeing how noticeably large they are in comparison with the other blossoms decorating his hair. Gesturing to Fern and Jake to come a bit closer, he whispered to the two as they looked and the book and nodded their heads in silent agreement. They have finally made their decision at last.

“We have decided on a name!”

Finn looked at their son resting in Fern’s arms as he smiled and tilted his head curiously at him, his beady eyes blinking once with wonder. He smiled in return and patted his head lightly.

“Your name shall be Flax, Flax the Homunculus Hybrid.”


	5. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a homunculus son to call their own, Finn and Fern begin their most challenging lifetime quest yet: Being responsible father figures that their own fathers failed to be.
> 
> They could only hope that the first day will go smoothly for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently... college gave us like, 2 months of school break so...
> 
> MORE TIME TO WORK ON THE STORY YAY-
> 
> I'll still progress slowly because I have other things to do behind the scenes.  
> Nonetheless, enjoy this chapter!

“C’mon dude you had too much fun with him already. Lemme have my turn as well, Fern!”

Finn pouted and crossed his arms while enviously watching Fern cuddling their son named Flax in his arms.

After helping Bonnie with tidying everything up, it was already nightfall when the three, the newborn included, started heading back home together at the Tree Fort. Bonnie handed the Mertens twins a guide on basic child care just in case while Jake was happy to provide some extra parental advice for both of them if they ought to do so. Margaret’s manual could also be a good start as well, albeit if Flax does become more developed like his kids, they could skip past the tutorials and rely on instinct and stock knowledge instead.

Jake also noticed how increasingly attached Fern is towards Flax, even though he had him for only a few hours. Strangely enough, he did observe a while back that Fern looked very withdrawn when his eyes are on the boy, almost as if he was regretting him for letting Flax to be born into this world. Then minutes later, he just came bursting in with a gleeful look on his face and started to become very cheerful encouraging, and sweet.

Very odd indeed.

Fern puffed his cheeks and held the boy even tighter in his arms stubbornly. “I was the one who made him speak for the first time, dude! I deserve his attention first!”

“Well, I’m also his parent as well!” Finn complained and huffed. “C’moooon!”

“Later!” Fern whined and puffed his cheeks.

“Whoa, chill you two! You’ll each have your turn with him. Just don’t try to stress him out.” Jake chuckled amusingly, shaking his head at their silly quarreling. Flax blinked and looked at Fern, tilting his head in confusion. “Dadda?”

“Ah it’s nothing, kiddo. Your poppa’s just jelly.” Fern patted his head. Finn blushed in embarrassment and looked away from them. “I-I am not jelly…” He mumbled to himself, swearing that he would get his opportunity soon.

They eventually got home as Jake unlocked the door and entered with the two following behind him. He switched on the lights as he placed the burger boxes that Bonnie handed out to them, as compensation for nearly missing dinner time. Not that Fern would mind since he technically cannot eat solid food. As the canine unpacks, they heard a shuffling of light footsteps coming down to meet them.

“Finn! Jake! Grass Finn! Welcome home!” It was their game console robot friend Bmo, who went shuffled over to greet the trio. Finn smiled and gestured them to come closer, for which they did.

“Hey, Bmo! Guess what? There’s someone special that we want you to meet, and I bet you’ll love him!”

“Oh! A new friend?” Bmo clapped their hands in excitement. “I love new friends!”

“New friend, you say?” A whizzing of conveyor belts was heard as another robot joined in the conversation, which this time it was Neptr. “Has the creator brought a new friend?”

“Well… actually, he’s not just a new friend. He’s family as well!” Finn grinned and nudged Fern to show them their hybrid son. Safe to say, he was busy spoiling him with too much parental affection, which is another thing that is becoming very unusual for him as well.

“O-Oh right, ahem.” Fern paused and cleared his throat, his face sporting a dark flush of evergreen as he turned around to face the two robots. “Guys, meet our newest addition to the family! This is Flax!” Finn introduced their small child as Fern sets him down gently on the floor. Though the two lads had to give him an extra hand with the walking since Flax nearly tripped due to him still getting used to his legs.

“Oh! It’s a tiny Finn!” Bmo gasped as they approached Flax and examined him closely.

“No! I think he’s more of a little Fern!” Neptr chirped and skirted his way to meet him as well. Flax squeezed on his parents’ hands, looking nervous yet intrigued while staring at the two talking robots in front of him. They were a few inches shorter than the hybrid child, not counting Neptr’s wired soup can head resting on top of his microwave body.

“D-Dadda…? P-Poppa…?” Flax murmured, clenching their hands. Finn gently prodded him and rubbed his head reassuringly. “It’s okay, Flax. They’re family as well. This is Bmo and Neptr.” He smiled.

Flax glanced at the robots then back at Finn and Fern before pointing at them one by one. “B-Bmo… Ne…Nep…tr…?” Another nod from the two and Flax faced them as he pointed at the robots again. “Bmo… Nep-Neptr…!” He squeaked out.

“Mhm! I am Bmo!” They giggled as they went over to Flax and gave him a big bear hug, with Neptr joining the hug as well. “New friend!”

Flax beamed happily and nuzzled them both, instantly accepting them as his family. By that time, Jake had already finished his preparations and sat down opposite of Finn and Fern. “Alright, boys! Eat your dinner before it gets cold!”

Finn nodded and started to chow down while Fern just watched as he ate. He then glanced over to Flax, who had started to play with Bmo and Neptr for a bit. A thought crossed his mind as he observed, wondering if he needs to eat as Finn does. Apart from being part grass just like him, it could be possible since he is a growing little seedling. Or, he might need to eat something similar to slimy baby food or oatmeal if he cannot bite onto food yet.

“Ah…?”

Fern blinked from spacing out and saw that Flax stopped playing and eyed on one of the burgers on the plate. Raising an eyebrow, Fern picked up a burger and beckoned his boy to come over. Flax waddled over, still getting used to walking properly, and clutched onto Fern’s leg as he looked up at him then at the burger.

“Do you… wanna eat this…?” Fern picked him up and placed him on his lap as he held up the burger with his other hand. “Eh… I don’t think that he should be eating that, given his current age. Plus, he’s grass like you so…” Jake shrugged as he saw Flax taking the burger and staring at it.

“Yeah, you’re probably right….” Fern frowned and was about to retrieve the burger from him, then his hand stopped momentarily when Flax started to lift the burger close to his mouth. He then took a bite out of the burger, a not so big but decent bite on it, and chewed on the morsel at a slow pace before swallowing the chunk down with ease, much to Fern’s shock.

“Finn, he can eat! Look!” Fern tugged on his shirt sleeve and pointed out to him as Finn looked over, having the same shocked expression while observing him.

“No way! I thought he is partially grass like you!”

“I thought the same thing! But see!”

The two watched Flax eat his burger with a pleased look on his face, although taking his spare time to munch on the meal unhurriedly. It might be because he was adjusting to eating food, or he wants to savor its flavors out of eagerness. Either way, at least they wouldn’t have to worry so much about what to feed him if he ever gets hungry. Flax continued to eat his burger peacefully as Finn rubbed his head and sighed softly.

“Since he’s living with us from now on, he’ll be needing a lot of things like clothes and stuff.” Jake hummed.

“Yeah…” Finn hoisted Flax up and placed him on his lap. “Honestly, I’m not even sure if I am cut out for this. I’m barely eighteen.”

“So am I,” Fern added as he picked up Bmo and lets them sit next to him.

“But…” Finn looked down at Flax, who had just finished his meal, and gazed up at him. He smiled widely and hugged his chest, snuggling cozily as Finn lets him. “…Can we even give him what our dads can’t?”

“Hey you two, you’re just worrying so much.” Jake glanced at Flax then back to the two as he stretched out his hands and patted their backs comfortingly. “It’s gonna be fine! He’s still pretty young, so he has a lot of room to grow and not become a bad kid. And sometimes, you just gotta not rely on the manual so much and just well, trial and error!” He shrugged.

“Trial and error huh…” Finn stroked Flax’s hair and thought about that, as the boy turned to face him. “Poppa…?”

Finn replied with just a smile and lightly pecked him on the forehead. “Don’t worry about us, honey. Everything will be okay, I promise.”

=======

It was getting late by the time the three-headed upstairs to the bedroom, with Finn carrying a sleepy Flax in his arms this time. Jake had gotten on his bed and watched him and Fern putting their boy on the bed next to Finn.

“It’ll be more of a good idea if he sleeps inside with me. We wouldn’t want him to get super cold outside.”

“True…” Fern slumped over dejectedly but sighed in understanding, knowing that they wouldn’t want the boy to get sick immediately, as much as he wanted to sleep and keep an eye out for him. “But I have the right to go inside now and then to make sure he does sleep okay!” He declared.

“Right, right…” Finn chuckled and heard Flax yawning right next to him, curling himself up into a fetal position and snuggling among the furs of the bed. He smiled and gently tucked him in, making sure not to disturb the boy as Fern pets his hair one last time as he heads for bed as well, on the rooftop. “Well uh… good night I guess…?” He cleared his throat awkwardly, very evident that he is still worried about their boy.

“Good night, Fern. And don’t worry so much, he’ll be alright.” Finn reassured him calmly as he started to lie down next to Flax, too tired to change into his pajamas for now. Fern nodded and after a glance, he climbed up to sleep on the roof.

“So what’re plans for him starting tomorrow?” Jake asked as he lies down, glancing over to Finn. “He’s gonna have his first day staying with us tomorrow so…”

“Hmm… I don’t know. I was thinking of taking him somewhere, maybe to the others so they can get to know him. And… Maybe help him learn other things.” Finn looked at Jake and took a deep breath. “Jake…”

“Everything will be alright.” The canine interrupted him and shifted to his side, facing away from him. “As long as he doesn’t grow up to be bad, you’ll do just fine.”

“You sure about that, bro?”

“Of course. Trust your guts, man! Now get some sleep and we’ll think about what to do tomorrow.”

“Hngh okay…” Finn muttered and rested his head on the pillow, turning his face around to look at Flax sleeping peacefully. He watched his tiny body rise and fall while breathing softly in his sleep, as he gently removed tufts of his hair away from his face. His gaze softened as he held the boy close to him almost protectively, before yawning quietly.

“Trust your guts…” He murmured to himself before his tired eyes finally closed shut.

The next morning…

“Mngh… ngh…” It was supposed to be a quiet morning for Finn to sleep longer than usual if he wants to but flinched as he was bothered by someone repeatedly slapping on his face. “Ngh… wake me later…” He groaned.

“Finn, for glob’s sake wake up…! We got a problem!” He squinted his eyes a little to see Fern looking down at him with a scowl on his face. He looks distressed. “Why… what’s wrong Fern…?” He muttered sleepily, his hand resting on the spot where Flax should be. Of which he isn’t at all. His eyes now widened to the size of skipping stones, his breath hitched in shock.

“Flax…?!” He immediately jumped out of bed, which startled Fern a bit, and searched everywhere within the bedroom. “Dude, I was gonna check on him as well and when I did check, he wasn’t there!” Fern exclaimed, helping him on the search as well.

“Oh, glob! Where could he be? I hope he doesn’t break any-“

Then the two froze as they heard a loud crash coming from downstairs.

“The kitchen!” They both yelled and made a beeline in going down to the kitchen, half hoping that it was just Jake or Bmo readying breakfast or something.

Well nope. As soon as they got there, they found Flax climbing through his way via the cooking stove. His two-toed foot got caught on one of the dials and suddenly switch on the fire of the range.

“Hueh?! Fern!” The grass lad didn’t need to be ordered twice as he quickly seized their kid away from the flames with his vine arm. Finn went over to the stove to switch off the gas range and sighed in relief to see that Flax didn’t get burned.

“Dadda! Poppa!” Flax babbled happily, oblivious of what he did but is very happy to see them. Fern held the boy tightly, still exhilarated from earlier. “Holy freak, that was so close!” He shuddered, cradling him shakily.

“Tell me about it…” Finn sweated and went over to the two, chuckling nervously. “Sheesh… you could have waited for either one of us to get you, honey… You scared us!”

“Waah ah!” Flax looked at him as he pointed something from behind Finn. The two glanced over to see that he was pointing to a box of cereal. Oh, so he was up early because he was hungry. That’s what it is.

Finn complied with his request and went to get some milk for the cereal, at the same time picking up the note that was stuck on the fridge. Meanwhile, Fern slowly relaxed as he placed Flax on the chair, making sure that he does not move anywhere. He then snapped his fingers as he thought of something and went to get the object. Finn then set a bowl and spoon in front of Flax, along with the milk carton as he sat down next to him. Fern then came back with a familiar-looking lavender bib in his one hand.

“Dude that’s my bib.” Finn raised his eyebrow slightly.

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t want him to get all messy while eating right?” Fern pointed out as he tied the large bib over Flax’s neck before sitting down at the opposite side. Flax then took the box and tilted it at an angle, nearly missing the bowl as colorful loops scattered on the table and floor while he was pouring. It was a waste of good cereal, but Finn shrugged it off as he helped him put down the box. Filling the bowl up with milk, he assisted Flax in grabbing the spoon and using it to eat cereal. It was a messy practice at first, but the boy was slowly getting the hang of it.

“Jake left early to see Lady so that he could get things ready for our boy. He’ll be back before dusk.” Finn informed Fern as they watched Flax eat.

“Oh okay. So… you got any idea on what we’re going to do today?” Fern asked.

“Let’s see… well, we really need to teach him a bunch of things since there’s a whole lotta danger out there and we wouldn’t want him to get hurt.”

“Right, huh…” Fern crossed his arms. “I guess… we could take him on an adventure since we cannot leave him alone.”

“Oh, good idea Fern!” Finn nodded in agreement. “A nice not-so dangerous adventure so that he could learn while we still can keep an eye out for his safety. Isn’t that right, Flax?”

“Awah!” Finn’s smile turned to a look of fear as the boy, who had finished his bowl of cereal, suddenly threw his spoon across the room.

“No! D-Don’t do that! Uwah!” Finn yelped and ducked down as the boy tossed the bowl over his head, giggling happily. Fern stood up and immediately caught the bowl before it hits the wall, but the spoon on the other hand accidentally knocked down the snail that was crawling on one of the large straying roots of the tree.

“Oof…” Finn hissed while Flax clapped with enthusiasm. “Uh… let’s just get ready for the hiking trip.”

“Agreed.”

=====

As Flax isn’t still used to walking or running yet, he would have to be carried around so that he neither would fall behind nor get himself hurt from stumbling a lot. Because they don’t have a baby carrier that could fit him, Fern volunteered to carry him around since he had the advantage of using his grass powers to fasten him securely on his back. Thankfully, it is not too tight and uncomfortable for the boy so he could still freely move his arms and legs as he wants.

“All set?” Finn inquired as he closed the front porch door, looking over to Fern and Flax, all snuggled on his grass parent’s back as he beamed brightly.

“Baby boy’s here, extra foodstuff’s in your pack, erm… I think that’s all we need?” Fern shrugged sheepishly as he glanced over to Flax.

“Alright let’s go!” Together, the three of them set off to go wherever their instinct tells them to go in the meantime. Clear weather and glimmering sunlight greeted them silently, wishing them the best of luck on their journey. As the two were walking, Flax took his time taking in his surroundings eagerly, looking at every little detail his eyes would land upon. Sometimes, he would point to certain objects around him and Finn would be the one to tell him what it is.

“Uh?” Flax pointed to a waterfall at the end of the small river that they are walking across.

“That’s a waterfall,” Finn responded to his inquiry.

“Mmh?” He then pointed down to the several fishes that swim past their legs.

“Oh, those are fish, Flax. They can be eaten as well.”

“Not ALL of us buddy, okay?” One of them popped its head out and gave them a grumpy look as it snapped before continuing to swim. Good thing that one didn’t have the urge to spit water at them.

They continued with their journey, not minding if they would end up finding a secret secluded area or even a secret dungeon that could potentially have all kinds of hazards and monsters creeping within them. They could probably end up where the train that goes on in a loop be, however, they doubted that to ever happen.

It has gotten noontime when Finn decided to take a break underneath a large oak tree near a small lake. Fern got Flax off his back and placed him down on a patch of grass before sitting down as well. “Need anything, Fern?” Finn asked as he took off his backpack and pulled out two sandwiches.

“A bottle of water, that’s all.” Fern shrugged and took one of the sandwiches to give to Flax, who gratefully started munching on it right away. He smiled softly as Finn handed him a bottle of water.

“This is quite nice huh? Not many monsters to fight, not many enemies that want to bite off our butts.” Finn smiled as he bit on his sandwich.

“Yeah, though it is sorta lame not fighting evil or anything that is considered evil.” Fern sighed, resting his head on his one hand while taking a sip on his water. “I mean, it’s fine. I don’t want our kiddo to get hurt or injured, but still, it’s too… boring.”

“I’m sure we’ll find something to fight, don’t worry.” Finn chuckled. “Also I gotta admit, you’re getting good in taking care of him, Fern. Even at your first try.”

“Really?” Fern blinked in surprise. “What makes you say that?”

“Hmm… well,” Finn looked at Flax. “You acted out when you watch what he was doing or thinking. Like… when you handed the burger to him. Or, when you gave him my bib since he eats like a hot mess.”

“Oh… I guess I just… do it.” Fern looked at his own hands. “I mean, I do not know how to take care of children in general but, if I think it feels like it is the right thing to do, then I… probably would’ve acted out anyway.” He wasn’t too sure of his actions either, to begin with. He was certain that, as long as he could get a positive response from their boy, he was doing the right thing for him. Not for himself, but for Flax.

“Dadda?” Flax called his attention as he was looking at the bottle of water in his hand. Fern obliged and gave him the water to drink.

“Doing it… for him.” Fern murmured as Flax drank contentedly.

====

Once they had their lunch break, the three huddled underneath the giant oak tree as they remained in their sitting positions, taking a nap together. Fern unconsciously had his head resting on Finn’s shoulder, though it seems Finn doesn’t mind at all. Flax was curled up on their laps but eventually woke up a bit later, rubbing his eyes as he looked around and wondered in confusion where they are at the moment.

“Mmh…” Flax mumbled and glanced up at his parents before getting off their laps. His legs were less wobbly than before, but he was still getting used to walking so he slowly waddled around by himself.

As most little kids are, it is in their nature to get intrigued by even the smallest of things they could find lying around. Their curiosity helps them learn new things, which is an essential part of growing up. However, they would have to consider how much heaps of trouble they could pile up, just to fulfill their endless curiosity. And so, while Flax was strolling around a bit, he encountered a pretty little butterfly resting on one of the flowers before it started to flap its wings and fly away. Wanting to catch that butterfly, he went after it through the path leading to a very dark forest.

An hour passed and Flax hasn’t returned yet by the time Finn stirred awake. Yawning, he blinked his eyes open, noticing that his one shoulder felt heavier. He glanced to see Fern napping on his shoulder, smiling a little as he felt his own cheeks getting warmer. His smile faded when he also noticed that Flax had gone missing again.

“Fern? Fern!” Finn shook him, causing his grass clone to wake up from his slumber. “Finn…?”

“Flax went missing again.” Fern’s eyes shot wide open at what Finn told him. “You serious?!” He quickly got up and scanned his eyes around in panic. “Where did he go this time?!”

“I don’t know either!” Finn puts on his backpack and stood up as well. “We gotta find him fast! Who knows what kind of danger he could bump into!”

“Wait. Finn, I found something!” Fern pulled him over to his side and pointed to a trail of two-toed footprints leading to the dark forest. “He might have gone through there… don’t you think?”

“Probably. We better head out and find him ASAP before anything bad happens to him.” The two nodded to each other as they walked through the path leading into the forest. There wasn’t much sunlight going through so it would be a bit tricky to find a small boy within the thick trees and shrubs present around them.

“Flax! Honey, where are you?”

“Flaaaaax!”

Finn and Fern hollered simultaneously as they thoroughly investigated the forest. If only Jake were here for them, they would have been able to have a bigger coverage and a bigger chance to find Flax quicker. They called for him again several times, but the only responses they got were shuffling footsteps of random small creatures and birds squawking at a distance.

“Man, he could be anywhere…!” Fern hissed under his breath, feeling his uneasiness blooming from the depths of his fear. He would soon blame himself for being inattentive if he doesn’t find him soon. Then, he perked up as he heard a faintly familiar voice from a distance. “Finn this way!”

“Wha- Whoa waah!” Finn exclaimed as Fern took his arm and dragged him along as he bolted towards the direction to the source of the voice he heard. The sounds of rustling bushes and crunching leaves followed them along. They ended up near the heart of the forest as they both ducked down and inspected the area to see if there are any monsters present within the vicinity. To their great relief, they saw Flax sitting by himself playing with the butterfly he chased earlier.

“Flax! There you are!” Finn called out as he and Fern stepped out from their hiding spot. Flax turned his face to see them, beaming gleefully as he pointed at the butterfly. “Poppa! Dadda!”

“So you were after this butterfly eh?” Finn forced a smile to mask his worry for him as he patted his head. “Well, playtime’s over, honey. We gotta head back home now before-“

“Hck…!” Fern bristled suddenly and summoned his Grass Sword as he spun around and nearly blocked a club attack from hitting him. “Kh…!”

“Fern!” Finn gasped and gritted his teeth, looking up to see who attacked them. A group of five to six ogres approached them, with the leader raising his club above his shoulder. “Finally, something to feast at last!” He grunted as Fern backed away quickly, holding his blade up.

“Fern, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He bared his fangs while looking at the ogres. “As much as I want a fight, this is gonna too much of a handful, Finn!”

“Stay behind us, son! We got this!” Finn unsheathed his sword and joined Fern as they got ready to fight the ogres.

“Tch, annoying rats…” The leader snorted and commanded two of his cronies to deal with them. Flax took a step back and watched his parents charged towards the two ogres, swinging their swords as they fought. However, no matter how much they slash the ogres were barely affected by their attacks as they withheld them with ease. Finn attempted another slash attack, but the ogre swung down his club onto the ground near him, making him lose his balance a little and cease his attack. He yelped when the ogre grabbed him by the arms, preventing him from swinging his sword.

“Finn!” Fern extended his vine and tried to whip them and snatch Finn away, but the ogre seized his vine arm before he can do that, hoisting him up like he was freshly caught fish. The two winced as the ogre’s grip on their arms tightened even more. There was no escape but that is less of their concerns as their eyes darted to where Flax cowered and spectated them. “Mgh… amnh…”

“Well well, seems that you gave us dessert as well.” The leader glanced at the two then over to where Flax hid as he approached the defenseless child with a predatory smirk.

“Don’t you dare, ogre! Ngh!” Finn tried to free himself from the vice grip, of which it was a futile attempt. “Don’t you dare touch our son!”

“Don’t you even think about eating our boy!” Fern snapped, doing the same thing as Finn. Still fruitless.

“Poppa! Dadda!” Flax gasped when he spotted them and stumbled onto the ground as he looked up to see the leader towering above him, flashing his ugly yellowing teeth. “You’re mine now, you tasty looking squirt! Hah!” The ogre leader grinned wickedly and reached his hands out to catch the child.

“NO!” Finn and Fern both screamed in horror, struggling violently within the larger ogre’s grip. Just as the leader closed his hands over the boy…

**_Shrnk!!_ **

“Aaargh…!” The leader recoiled in pain and stepped back. He hissed and took notice that his one hand had a huge cut on his finger. “Grrah…! But how…! I thought this puny grub is harmless…!”

“Wha…?” The Merten boys stared in disbelief and reluctantly looked over to where Flax is. There, their eyes widened in shock at what they saw. On the tiny boy’s hands…

…was a short yet razor-sharp blade of grass.

“Mgah… r-rye… mgraaayeeehh ngaal... l-leeee... L-Let my Poppa and Dadda go!” Flax shrilled angrily at the ogres, not even a little intimidated by their immense sizes as he dashed towards the group.

“Grr… seize this runt!” The leader bellowed at his army, which they grunted in response as they proceeded to stampede towards the newborn. Flax was unfazed and managed to dodge them pretty fast, ducking down before heading straight for the ogre that had his parents.

“Oh no you don’t! Hrargh!”

“Honey look out!” Finn yelled as the ogre swung down his large club over him. Flax reacted immediately and jumped back, missing the hit. He then climbed onto the club then zipped on his arm before giving the ogre a sizable kick on the eye.

“Argh! My eye!” He growled and releases his grip on Finn and Fern, covering his face. “We’re free!” Finn rubbed his wrists. “But where’s Flax?”

“Over there!” Fern pointed to where he is, being chased by the ogres as they tried to catch the running child.

“Get back here, brat!” The ogre leader barked as the chase went on, though Flax seems not scared while being chased. Rather, it looks like he knows what he is doing. He stopped running when he got cornered by some large rocks. He panted for breath as he looked up to see the ogres surrounding him.

“We have you now…” The leader smirked and swung down his makeshift mace. Fortunately, Flax jumped high enough to miss the hit as he landed on the mace. The leader’s eyes widened. “How-?!”

“You mean, _I_ got you now! Hyah!!” Flax then ran up to his face before attacking him with a straight on slash with his dagger, followed by a whopping kick to the nose. The ogre howled in sheer pain as Flax hopped off of him at the exact time where the ogres collided with each other, trying to grab him. “Poppa! Dadda!” Flax waved over to the two.

“Flax!” Finn went over to scoop him up in his arms while Fern got himself busy, cracking his grassy fingers as he pressed both of his hands together to form a huge thorny mace. “This is for almost eating OUR BOY!” He proceeded to bash them hard before sending them flying with a powerful whack from his two-handed grass mace. The three watched them flew off before Fern untangled his arms, sighing tiredly.

“I think that’s enough excitement for today…”

“Agreed.”

====

It was almost dusk as the trio started heading back to the Tree Fort to end the day, with Finn still holding Flax in his arms. Neither Finn nor Fern was speaking with one another after what they witnessed earlier, as they were still comprehending what had they seen. Their boy… their boy literally put up a fight out there, by himself as a matter of fact. Despite his size and age, he was able to react when the two were incapacitated and was not even afraid of the ogres at all. Their boy is indeed special to them, very special.

So special that, they started to feel a hint of fear towards him… Will he…?

“Poppa…? Dadda…?”

“Hmm?” “Yes kiddo?” The two stopped thinking to themselves and looked at their boy.

“…I’m sorry…” Flax murmured softly, feeling ashamed of himself as he didn’t look up at his parents.

“Sorry? But… why honey? You haven’t done anything wrong today!” Finn reassured him, but Flax just shook his head and held onto Finn’s arms.

“I-I put Poppa and Dadda danger… And nearly got them badly hurt because of me…” He whimpered as tears started to leak out of his eyes. Fern frowned sadly, not wanting to see their boy feeling guilty because of what happened. The two slowed down and stopped to comfort their son. “I’m so sorry…” He hiccupped as he balled his eyes and cried a lot in front of them.”

“Shh… It’s okay…” Fern placed both hands on his soaked grassy cheeks, using his thumbs to wipe his tears away. “It’s okay… You didn’t do anything too bad today…”

“Y-You think so…?” Flax sniffled as he looked at Fern sadly. “E-Even if… even though I-I was supposed to s-stay with Dadda and Poppa…?”

“Of course.” Flax looked up to Finn’s slightly smiling face as he bent his head down to peck his forehead. “It wasn’t entirely your fault. We’re your parents so, it’s normal that we were supposed to be responsible for your safety, Flax.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay now. We forgive you.” Finn hugged Flax comfortingly, then blinked when Fern joined the hug as well. “…Squoze?”

“Squoze.” Finn chuckled and nodded, letting him do so. After a while, they continued their journey back home. Finn then thought of something. “Hey um…Flax?”

“Yes Poppa?” Their son looked up at him.

“This is... awkward for me to ask this to a toddler, but how in Ooo did you know some… big stuff instantly? Like how to fight?” Finn asked, slightly uncertain if he should be asking that to a developing child. Then again, he learned how to defend so early back there.

“I dunno, Poppa.” Flax swung his feet a bit as he pondered about it. From what he could tell from his distant expression, he was also wondering about that as well. “But I only know that my knife is for protecting me, Dadda and Poppa. That’s all.” He added, referring to his acquired Grass Dagger.

“And you also knew how to speak properly too!”

“Mm… but I am not good with big words yet. I only know because I watch Dadda and Poppa talk.” Flax admitted then smiled at them. “But I will find a way to know more things so that I can help Dadda and Poppa!”

Finn and Fern blinked at his declaration, then smiled as they both patted his head. “We’re sure you will…. son.” They said and looked at each other as they nodded in agreement, looking forward to seeing what this path would take them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Personally speaking, Finn is a bit more on the maternal side of things.
> 
> Or I'm just saying that because his helping nature comes from his Helper mom.


	6. Warming Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After what happened yesterday, Finn decided that it might be the best time to introduce everyone to the homunculus.
> 
> Well, ALMOST everyone. 
> 
> Meanwhile, Fern's uncertainties start to bother him again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lo! Christmas' coming you guys!
> 
> I still have to finish the other chapters that I have drafted earlier months ago though, college can kick you hard on the backside if you aren't too careful TT-TT'
> 
> Anyway, here's the next part!

“You should have seen him, Jake! He dealt those brutes like it was nothing!”

The treehouse residents were at the dining table having breakfast together, the half breed son included. He was munching away on some cookies that Jake offered while Finn was just next to them. Jake had placed a dollop of whipped cream on the bacon pancakes he made before he slowly placed the can down.

“Whoa whoa, hold your horses…. You’re saying that he gave those brutes a whomp?” Jake looked at Flax, who just blinked at him and took another bite.

“Believe me Jake. We couldn’t even free ourselves from their grasp, but suddenly he brought out a grass blade of his own and somehow managed to take them down quickly!” Finn took a bite of the pancakes and swallowed, choking a little before clearing his throat as he continued. “He just swoops under that beast, climbs onto him, and gave them a hard bonk on the head!”

“But he’s too young to fight!” Jake exclaimed, switching off the stove and dropping the pan down before going over to them. “Well, ignore the fact that my own kids can handle themselves since they age pretty fast. But dude, when you were of his age, you were still chubby and vulnerable! His case is something else.”

“I know…” Finn held his head. He was still in disbelief after what had happened.

Jake then turned his face over to Flax and clicked his tongue. “So… you learn how to speak early eh?”

“Yep!”

“And you learn how to walk and use a weapon, even though you weren’t supposed to?”

“Wait… I wasn’t supposed to, Unkie?” Flax tilted his head in confusion. Well, there goes a yellow flag for the stretchy dog.

“Eh… yeah.” Jake scratched his head. “You’re still extremely young, probably a day old after you were made by PB and yet, you knew how to attack and defend yourself with a weapon.”

“Mm…” Flax looked at his right hand and retracted his Grass Dagger, which almost made Jake flinch as to how it is almost as sharp and pristine as the Grass Sword despite its size. “I… do not know either, unkie. All I can recall was my Poppa and Dadda are in great danger and I suddenly felt the urge to protect them. Like, I had to pull out something to protect them.”

Jake nodded, humming as he listened to his every word. He still was in disbelief that he can talk fluently. From what he remembered what his parents told him about Finn’s infanthood, it takes a long time for him to speak properly. Although he has limited knowledge of a human's cognitive development, he was aware that babies or young children take a long time to develop a solid speech pattern. And yet, here is Flax, a day old and already speaking in clear sentences. Then again, he is not a human but a homunculus, as Bonnie calls him. “That’s strange… But overall, I’m quite glad that you helped your parents out. Just… don’t try that again. You’re still very young.”

“But then... who’s going to defend them if you aren’t around and let’s say, were under too much pressure from the fight?” Flax raised a hand as he asked. “Almost about to be… covered everywhere with bad guys…? I don’t know the right word to use…”

“You mean overwhelmed?”

“Uh yes, that one.” He nodded. So he also has some decency with his vocabulary too. 

“Well… okay you’ve made your point. Ehem, maybe if they are definitely in trouble and I’m not around, then you go for it. Just try not to get hurt so much, ‘kay lil’ buddy?”

“I promise!” Flax smiled and nodded again.

Finn sighed, didn’t like the idea of him fighting or defending them. It was supposed to be their responsibility to do that, and not his! He didn’t want him to get involved in risky situations, especially the one from yesterday. He doesn’t want him to take the mantle and fight their battles, the same way his- no, Martin, did to him.

He then tilted his head back, taking a moment to “Hmm… do you think PB mess a little of her formula in making him?”

“I highly doubt that.” Jake patted Flax’s head then moved over as BMO squeezed themselves in to chat with the boy. “She may be prone to making errors in her work, but I don’t think she messes up with the formula.”

“Guess we should pay her a visit then. Just to make sure his advanced mind isn’t much of a big issue.” Finn suggested as Flax finished his cookies.

“Oh, that reminds me!” Jake headed out of the kitchen for a moment before returning back with a couple of items. Most of the items were the standard daily hygiene kit such as a toothbrush and a small hairbrush. “I got these necessities ready for him so that he can start practicing everyday hygiene! Lady agreed to help in making his clothes of his measurements since that little baby gown seems to be getting too tight-fitting for his size.” He remarked, seeing Flax fiddling with the ribbon and the collar of his gown in slight discomfort. It also had a few noticeable wear and tears from yesterday’s fight.

“Also,” Jake added while looking over at Finn. “She seems very curious when I told her about Flax. She would like to meet him one day, along with the kids if they got the time.”

“Is that so?” Finn thought about it. A family gathering would be very nice for him indeed so that he can get comfortable with them at an early pace. He then snapped his metallic fingers as an idea barged into his head. “Say Jake…why don’t we get your family and Jermaine to meet him in person? Maybe even let him meet our closest friends since we did promise to show him once he’s born.”

“I think that sounds like a great idea!” Jake nodded with a grin.

“Honey? Could you come over here for a second?” Finn beckoned him over with a wave of his hand. Flax perked up and gave BMO a dismissive hug before trotting over to him. “Yes, Poppa?”

“Would you like to meet the others, Flax?”

“Others? Like.... my other family and such? Are you thinking of inviting them?” Flax inquired, climbed up and crawled over his lap as he looked up to him. “Will those others like me though...?”

“Of course they will! They will love you for sure!” Finn kissed his cheek, earning a sweet giggle and a nuzzle from him. “We’ll discuss that with Princess Bubblegum right after your check-up with her. Got it?”

Flax nodded in agreement and got off of his lap as soon as Finn stood up from the chair stretching his arms wide. “Ah! ‘Kay, let’s get going, shall we?”

Once they readied their things and bidding Bmo goodbye, the three of them exited out of the house. Before they push onwards to the kingdom, however, they all gazed up towards the rooftops, wondering if Fern is done with his own breakfast or whatever routine he is doing at the moment.

“Fern! You coming along? We’re taking Flax along to see Princess Bubblegum!” Finn hollered out to him.

“Give me a sec!” Literally a second later, out bounced an already active Fern, who seems to look a bit greener and healthier looking today. Possibly the after-effects of photosynthesizing. “Is it about Flax’s advanced intelligence?” He hummed as Flax hugged his leg and greeted him with a good morning.

“Yep yep.”

“As predicted.” Fern chuckled then looked at Flax with a smile. “Okay for today’s trip, wanna walk by yourself or be carried?”

“Mm… be carried!” Flax raised his arms up to emphasize. Fern obliged and hoisted him up, balancing his small body on his shoulders so that he can perch without having the chance of falling off.

“Don’t spoil him too much, or he’ll be relying on you as his carrier horse from now on, hehe.” Jake joked as the group then headed over to the Candy Kingdom, following along the path leading there.

“Hmm… you know, now that he’s here with us,” Finn glanced over to Fern as they walked. We should introduce him to others.”

“The others?” Fern returned the gaze.

“Yeah! Like Jake’s own family, Jermaine, and a couple of our close friends. We should get him to warm up with them. And while he’s at it, you could try introducing yourself to the others so they can get to know you better. Whaddya say?”

“Mm… I don’t know, Finn. I’m still troubled. Remember, I’m not from here…” Fern looked down. Don’t get him wrong, he thought it was a great idea for him to be more associated with already familiar faces. The problem pertains more on self-exposure to those faces. Even though he gains a little bit of confidence in himself, he was still rather insecure about his newly acquired identity as Fern, and not Finn. What would they think of him when they examine him closer than the last time?

_What would they really think of him?_

‘What would those people even think of me? A fake Finn? A copycat? A wannabe hero?’ He furrowed his brows. He hated to be addressed in that sense. He isn’t fake. He’s a person. He is Fern the Human, not some tactless and hopeless doppelganger. He’s not a mere servant bound by the blades that constructed his being. He’s not… He’s not…!

His inner brooding was interrupted when he felt a gentle shake coming from his hands. He shook off from those surfacing negative thoughts to land his eyes onto the concerned face belonging to Finn. “Fern, I know that you are still troubled about yourself, but don’t let that hinder you more! You’ve been doing well so far, so please, have no fear! It’ll turn out great. You’ll see.” Finn gave him a small reassuring grin.

That blossomed a weird tingling sensation at his very core, almost like the feeling of soaking up the warm rays of morning sunlight into his skin, but warmer and more invigorating than that. Fern’s cheeks tinted a bit darker as he shifted his gaze away, but not without returning a small trembling smile back at him. “O-Okay… I’ll give it a fair shot then.”

They finally made it to the Candy Kingdom a couple of minutes later. Greeting the people and the Banana Guards passing by, they headed straight to the pastel pink palace to look for the princess.

“Princess! You here?” Jake called out for her as they looked around. Their attention came to Peppermint Butler, who pointed up to indicate that she is upstairs at her office. They followed him to the office and spotted her doing some paperwork on her desk.

“Over here, boys!” Bonnie smiled and nodded her head to permit them in coming inside. She stood up from her chair and approached the group.

“Hey guys! Hello to you too, Flax.” The princess rubbed his head.

“Hi Nana! I’ve been good, just as you wish me to!”

“Oh, that’s good.” Then she paused before gazing back at Flax with a baffled blink. “… Wait. Did you just… talk to me? In a straight sentence?”

“Mhm! I can talk now, Nana! See?”

“With proper grammar and punctuation?"

“Hm? I don’t know what those words mean, but if it is related to me talking, I think so!” Flax beamed like it was nothing unusual. Fern set him down gently, letting him walk around while they were talking.

“And he’s also walking appropriately on his own now, in a proper posture… even if he was just a day old. Just like…” She shook her head and faced the trio. “Boys? What had you noticed lately on him?”

“We were gonna ask you the same question, Peebs, after what had happened yesterday. Did you add something in the formula that made him instantly smart?” Finn asked as he watched the boy stroll around by himself.

“I don’t think so… But, it could possibly be based on the revisioned formula itself that may be the reason why his IQ accelerated a bit. Hold on… what did happen yesterday with him around? Explain.”

“You wouldn’t believe what he did though…” Finn and Fern then narrated to her everything that took place on that day, from the time they went outing without Jake around, up to the part that Flax nearly got himself in a predicament with a hoard of starving brutes, ending with the note that he fought them back when the two were unable to pry themselves out to save him. This pushes some concerns towards her. The last part threw her off the most. “He knows how to wield a weapon as well?!”

They all nodded in reply. “But then…. were there any other changes? Like his behavior, attitude, etc.?"

“Apart from being protective and harsh to those monsters, not as much. He’s still… being a baby. That’s all.” They glanced over to see him thanking and smiling genuinely at Peppermint Butler after he gave him a few wrapped sweets and pats on the head.

“Hmm… I see. Though, from what I last gathered on the history of the homunculus alchemy, their thought process should have taken a great amount of time to construct compared to my own candy experiments in the past...” Bonnie nodded in understanding then walked out with them behind her as she cautiously picked up Flax. She had to be sure that he isn’t going to pose a future threat to anyone. Not that, he would be potentially but it is just a precaution. “Alright Flax, ready for your check-up? It won’t take too long. It’s just a quick analysis to see how’s your progress going.”

She took him to her laboratory and placed him on a mechanical chair before switching on her machines to begin her procedures. Finn sat down on one of the vacant seats next to the bed as he watched PB examining Flax’s physical body and the readings displayed on the monitor. “Strange… The readings seem normal besides his increased IQ…” She murmured to herself while analyzing the data.

“…Hey Bonnie? Do you think it would be nice if we introduce our family and friends to Flax? I want him to get familiar with some people.” He spoke up to her after a long silence. She didn’t look away from her examination on Flax, but she hummed in response. “Oh? Are you planning a social gathering then?”

“Err… well, I could use some assistance since you made him.”

“Ah… I guess I can let that happen. Getting to know some close people can be very important in certain situations” She lowered her monitor down before turning her face towards Finn’s. “How about tomorrow afternoon? My castle lobby or at the treehouse?”

“Mm… your palace’s lobby seems nice. I mean, I’m pretty sure we’ll be inviting almost everybody on our list.”

“Ice King included?” PB raised an eyebrow.

“Eh sure. Him as well, and Gunther. Simon did mention before we left that he wanted to see him as well.” Maybe he would fit being that fun yet eccentric grandpa, he thought to himself.

“That’s… something I don’t hear every day. But, he seems to be getting a little more docile lately so… it’s up to you on who you’re going to invite over. As long as it doesn’t cause problems for your child.” She eyed on the tears of his gown and patted his head. “Well, besides the IQ spike, the readings don’t seem to have any major anomalies so he’s fine. For now. Though, keep in check just in case.”

“We will.”

PB patted Flax's head lightly before clapping her hands. “So! Let's discuss that gathering…”

+++++++

The next day, the family gathered at the Candy Palace with the princess to make the preparations for their guests. While Finn and Jake had themselves positioned near the entrance doors of the palace to greet the incoming guests, Fern and the robots were with Princess Bubblegum to keep watch as she got herself busy. As he doesn’t have any proper attire yet, Flax was given another loose dress gown to replace the worn-out one. He didn’t seem to mind though. His long meadow hair was also tied up into a high ponytail to prevent him from tripping onto. Bonnie put up some final touches on Flax until she stood back and felt satisfied enough with his appearance.

“There you go! Now you look great and presentable enough for everyone to see.” She smiled and stood up. “How’re they holding up, Fern?”

Fern peeked through a crack of the door and inspected the lobby. “Not as many, but it’s accumulating by the minute.” He reported as he walked over to the two. “Not gonna lie, it’s like we’re readying for his coronation day or something similar to that.”

“Oh! Flax is a little prince!” BMO giggled as Flax’s face starting to flush a rich green, hiding his face shyly. Fern let out a dry chuckle and shook his head, thinking of the idea being cute. Bonnie then handed Flax over to Fern and patted his shoulder.

“I’ll go ahead and meet them downstairs. Be on your best behavior, alright you guys?” She smiled then left the room through the door.

Fern pursed his lips, feeling a bit nervous himself as he was going to confront some familiar yet vague faces by the time they get out. Sure, he knows a few of them, but he still felt rather awkward with the déjà vu. Flax seems to sense this and reached up to pat his cheeks lightly. “Dadda, are you worried?”

“No… maybe a little,” Fern admitted in a whisper then let a weak smile formed on his face as he nudged his forehead with his own. “But don’t worry about me. This is your day after all.” He wouldn't want the sprout to be overly concerned about his own internal conflicts after all. He is still far too young to understand them, he so believed.

Meanwhile at the lobby, Finn and Jake started to greet the incoming visitors by the door as they guided them inside. They had sent the invite earlier this morning prior to going to the kingdom. Fortunately, it got everyone’s attention so no one gets missed out. “Thanks for gathering here on this unexpected day, you guys. It was quite a hassle.”

“Pfft, I ain’t a big of a deal. Don’t worry.” Marceline nudged him on the shoulder playfully with a grin. She had her hair up in a side ponytail and was wearing one of her long-sleeved collared shirts as she placed her umbrella inside the provided holder. “Can’t believe that Bonnie gave you the permission to make him. I mean, her creations tend to get out of hand sometimes.” She chuckled.

“Don’t think he’ll be like them though. So far, he’s been nothing but an earnest blossom sprout!” Jake stated. “Apart from the whole… ‘he-knows-how-to-use-a-weapon’ situation’, he’s a good kid.”

“So Finn, where’s this boy of yours?” Flame Princess inquired as she looked around the lobby.

“He would be here in a minute.” She heard Bonnie reply for Finn as she made it to the bottom of the stairwell. She crossed her arms, hadn’t forgotten the trouble that she had caused in the Fire Kingdom, but she wouldn’t like to be rude to miss out on an important invite. “For now, take your time to settle down.” Once they did, Bonnie gave Fern the thumbs up signaling that they can make their entrance.

I supposed it’s time, Fern thought to himself as he took a deep breath to steady his nonexistent heart. Nodding to himself to stay calm, he opened the door and stepped outside with Flax in his arms. Flax stared at the growing crowd below them in awe as the four of them headed downstairs. Finn spotted them and smiled as he waved them over, making room for them.

“’Kay guys! Here is he!” Finn guided Fern over to the group, giving him reassuring pats as the grass being tried to hold his composure. “This is Flax the Hybrid! He’s our newest addition to the family!” He smiled as Fern gently placed him on the floor in between them, giving him a light push to approach the gang. Their friends and family looked down at him with fondness and awe while Flax stared back with immense curiosity.

“First, let’s get you to familiarize yourself with your Uncle Jake’s own family.” Finn smiled as he guided him over to meet Lady and her five children. “This here is your Aunt Lady and your half-rainicorn half-dog cousins!” He introduced her to him as Lady greeted the boy in her language, despite him not understanding what she is saying (but he would assume that it was a kind greeting nonetheless). His cousins were introduced one by one, with the girls giving in to the temptation of pinching his cheeks lightly while the boys simply gave him a hug and a pat on the head.

Of course, they hadn’t forgotten about introducing him to their other brother Jermaine, who is just as curious when meeting him for the first time. “He’s rather… small, I gotta say, but I bet he has a lot of room to grow.” He said to Jake as he let Flax go to the next person

“Aw, aren’t you the cutest lil’ dude? Don’t worry, I won’t bite.” Marceline chuckled as she took her turn to meet him. “Name’s Marceline, but you may call me Aunt Marceline or Marcy, however you want.”

“Okay, auntie Marcy!” Flax nodded and giggled when she lightheartedly gave him a poke on his nose. Flame Princess approached him next, though Fern had to stay back a little because grass doesn’t play with fire too nicely. Flax however didn’t seem to care.

“You must be Flax. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last. Oh! Don’t touch me. I’m made of fire. I might burn you by accident.” Phoebe giggled softly when Flax tried to reach out to her.

“Aww, I wanna hug you, though!” Flax crossed his arms and puffed his cheeks.

“Don’t worry, little one. If you got someone to cast a flame shield spell on ya, you can get all the hugs from her as much as you want!” A blue-colored baked pastry walked next to her. “By the way, I’m Cinnamon Bun. I used to be with Princess Bubblegum before I moved into the Fire Kingdom.”

“Nice to meet you then, Mr. Cinnamon Bun! “

“’Cusers! Make way! Don’t forget about me!” A Flame person wearing a fiery looking checkered shirt and jalapeno red pants chirped as he wedged himself in between the three. But this was not just any other Flame person.

“Whoa ho! Flambo! Is that you? You seem… different from the last time we met.” Jake said, recognizing him immediately.

“Hah! Ya fellas think we can’t grow taller as we grow older?” The flambit chattered and snickered at him with a mischievous grin on his blazing face. “But hey! I overheard from a couple ol’ fire folks that ya gonna have a baby boy and man weren’t ye kidding! He’s even standing on his two feet right now!”

Flax smiled warmly at Flambo then went elsewhere to meet some other faces he hasn’t meet up close yet. He did bump into Ice King, who let out a surprised yelp before looking down to see who it is. “Oh, so this must be the tiny Finn they’ve made! Didn’t noticed ya earlier.” He gave him a toothy grin and held out his hand, letting Flax take it before giving him a friendly handshake. “Well howdy doo! I’m the Ice King, and this is my loyal companion Gunther!”

“Wenk.”

“Ooh, a penguin! I love penguins!” Flax went over to Gunther and threw himself towards him in a bear hug. Gunther doesn’t seem to mind as much, giving him a pat on the back in return. Ice King smiled fondly at the two then hummed as he stroked his beard. “Huh… I might update on my Fionna and Cake adventures now that you’re here…”

“Is it a storybook? Can you tell me about it one day, Grandpa Ice King?” Ice King let out an excited gasp at Flax’s question. “You… want to hear my fantasy tales?! Oh, joy! Finally, someone who would be interested to hear my stories! Heeheehee!”

“Don’t get your hopes up. He might back out the board meeting one day.” Marceline shook her head amusingly as she was busy talking with Bonnie and the two Mertens boys. Flax immediately took note that he mustn’t stray too far from his parents so after one more quick chat and a hug from the Ice Kingdom residents, he skipped back to his parents and clung onto Fern’s leg, which he didn’t mind.

“Oh, Huntress Wizard! Glad you came by!”

Flax raised his eyes to stare onto a pair of cat-like eyes fixated at him, belonging to a female wizard with leafy hair and donning a hunter’s outfit. The wizard gave Finn a nod as a greeting before kneeling in front of him, not averting her gaze from him. “So this must be the boy you are referring to?” Finn nodded in reply.

Huntress Wizard gave him one of her rare smiles as she rubbed his head. “Mother Nature blesses you with her grace, young child. Your future remains vague and foggy. However, on what path you might transverse, never stray away from what you already believed in.”

Flax blinked at her mysterious quote but nodded as if he understood the meaning. “I will, Miss Huntress Wizard!”

The minutes ticked by while the little gathering went on for the entire afternoon. Flax was having the time of his really young life, being with the people that Finn and Jake were well acquainted with and playing with a few, mostly Gunther as he gave the penguin glass bottles he found littering around for him to break. Princess Bubblegum would sigh and let them have their fun, reminding Peppermint Butler to tidy the shards up so that no one including him gets hurt from the bits of broken glass.

While Flax had a great time, Fern on the other hand was feeling a little indifferent. Okay, he was trying to socialize and get along with the people, but he still felt rather off. He didn’t want to stand out just yet since he still felt like a sore thumb to the others. However, seeing that his son having fun, was enough for him to hang on and gave him a little motivation to try and interact with other people as the party goes on.

"Not into big social gatherings like this one, huh? Or maybe because it felt like your first time experiencing one?"

Fern perked up to see Jermaine approaching him. And yes, he can somehow distinguish which one is Jake and which one is Jermaine, unsurprisingly.

"You must be Fern. My brothers talk so much about you. Well, mostly Finn since Jake's still kinda... on par with getting along with you, from what I can see." Fern nodded in agreement with Jermaine's statement, as he had witnessed his brutal beating on his pseudo-dad. The canine then examined more of him up close, which made the grass lad feel slightly uncomfortable as he scanned him from top to bottom. "Hm... you don't seem to be terrifying at all. I mean, why does Jake think that you are scary?"

Fern scratched the back of his head, looking away in embarrassment. "I... probably am I guess, being a brash and impulsive guy myself..." 

"Nonsense, don't say that. I know that most people around here, still haven't got used to your presence." Jermaine took a quick glance at Jake. "But, give it time and I'm sure they'll see you as an actual nice guy and not the elephant in the room. An obstacle."

"You think I can be nice?" 

"Sure why not? I mean, I hung out with a demon for a work companion now and he seems cool to be with. Although he can sometimes get me under the skin."

"Dadda?" Flax's piping voice interrupted the two's short conversation before Fern could say something else. He looked behind to see Finn waving over to him, carrying the boy with his other arm as Peppermint Butler tidies up the glass pieces scattered on the floor. "Hey, your kid seems to be needing your attention now. We could talk some more at another time, maybe when I come to visit the fort. I would like to personally know you more."

"Uhh yeah, one day. Sure." Jermaine smiled slightly and nodded then waved him goodbye before the grass lad trotted off to join the others.

Dusk soon falls over Ooo and everyone has left the palace back to their designated areas. It was almost time for them to head home, though they had dinner with the princess before returning back. It was quite an exhausting but fulfilling day as they made it back safe and sound.

“Some gathering eh?” Jake placed BMO down as they arrived at the bedroom. Finn yawned and nodded in agreement, all the hype making him tire easily.

“I’ll be up by the roof as usual if you need me.” Fern said before going through the window and climbing up. Finn watched and yawned again and was about to take Flax over to bed when he saw him going over the window, poking his head outside, and glancing up.

“You don’t wanna sleep yet, honey?”

He pulled his head back inside, shaking his head. “I’m tired, but… can I be with Dadda for a bit before I go to bed?”

“Mm… sure why not. He might need a short time company.” Finn shrugged and smiled. Flax then headed outside through the door leading to the overview and carefully scaled up to the roof, using his newfound grass abilities and newly developed claws to grapple over to where Fern was situated at. It was a stretch though, as he still needed to practice using them. However, he took his time doing so, not wanting to rush as it is getting late and he didn’t want to fall.

Once he made it, Fern didn’t notice his presence at first as he was busy gazing at the crescent moon floating aimlessly in the night sky. He had his hood down to let his hair flow within the chilly breeze. “Dadda?” He went over to him as his plant parent turned his head and waved him over.

“Hey, kiddo. Still not sleepy yet?” Fern spoke up, acknowledging him as he patted an empty spot next to him. The boy went over and sat down, flexing his feet a little as he did. “Not as much. Still got some energy left to hang out with you!”

Fern chuckled, petting his head lightly before returning his gaze at the moon. 

“It’s really nice up here!”

Fern nodded in response, closing his eyes. From his slightly wrinkled face, he seems that he has some thoughts going on in his head. “What’re thinking about, Dadda?”

“Oh, you know... me trying to get along with others and such. Letting others know that I’m Fern and not… Finn.” He sighed as he looked down. “So yeah…”

Flax noticed his plant parent’s glum face and frowned slightly. He didn’t like it when his parents are unhappy. “Maybe the others will take time to adjust to you, just like when they have to get used to me.”

“I think they are doing a lot fine with you more than with me around….” Fern sighed. “Because I look like your Poppa. And yet, they’re leaning more to him than to me.”

“Well, I do not always know what they are thinking about but,” Flax looked up to him. “Don’t give up just yet, Dadda! Even though they cannot get used to you all the time, I’ll be here to make you feel like you matter!”

Fern chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t deserve you. Really.”

“I don’t mind. You’re my Dadda after all! I may have known the others, but I’m the happiest when I’m with you and Poppa.” Flax hugged his side, which Fern returned gratefully. They stayed like that as the minutes ticked, just two grass beings enjoying each other’s company.

He soon lets him go and ruffled his hair fondly. “Now you better head for bed. You can’t sleep here since you might catch a cold.” Flax nodded in understanding and went back down to the bedroom, his grass dad taking short glances to make sure he doesn’t fall. He then lied down and prepared himself to reenter his nightmares.

Only to feel an extra lump joining in as Flax returned with his pillow and a spare blanket as he placed it next to him before curling himself up and slept beside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's one thing I want to work on, that would be more character interactions for Fern. *sigh*


	7. A New Companion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having a family that is constantly out every day of the week, Flax wanted nothing but to have fun as well. It would have been simple if he wasn't causing a mess without realizing it.
> 
> But soon, he would find something that could solve his boredom. In the form of a strange visitor...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! ^^ (Well at least let's hope it will stay that way ^^''')
> 
> I still have so many chapter drafts to recheck and add but damn writer's block got into my system *sighs* Writing isn't my forte it seems-
> 
> Anyways, here's the next chapter! Stay safe and remember to take care of yourself!

A week had passed since Flax came into their lives, a week since he becomes a part of the family’s everyday schedule and regular maintenance. Not that they do not mind that there will be a couple of changes from now on for him to adapt, but thankfully it wasn’t too difficult for the family to adjust.

Lady was kind enough to help out after hearing the news of her new nephew, not caring if he is artificially created by her friend Princess Bubblegum. In fact, she was quite excited to meet him face to face when she got invited by them to his warming-up party. Flax immediately warmed up to his Rainicorn aunt despite the language barrier, he would anticipate her for a visit, and probably one day permit him to fly around on her back when he is ready enough. She also made a promise to him that he would get to meet his rainicorn-dog crossbreed cousins again if they ever consider having a family gathering picnic with everyone.

Their other friends, after hearing the news about the boy’s birth and meeting him for the first time, paid a visit to the Tree Fort to occasionally check him out, getting used to his presence and his interesting character. Though it took a while for him to gain some confidence and get to know each of them more, it wasn’t long until he began to open up to them and even let them pick him up in their arms. He still prefers to be carried around by his biological parents and his creator as he was more comfortable and safer when he is around them, but as long as they are indeed close with either of the three, it is considered fine for him.

Additionally, given that the boy is only days old, he was able to learn some basic things such as proper hygiene and motor skills such as holding utensils and carrying objects. In addition, after they had reported to Princess Bubblegum about Flax’s fast learning skills, she gave them some helpful advice and a few children’s books for him to read, which would be beneficial in improving his speech and expanding his knowledge.

But even with all these adjustments for him, they got one small problem about him. He gets bored quite easily, it becomes troublesome to keep him still.

Like today for example-

“Flax, what did you do to the bathtub this time?!” Exclaimed a panicked Jake as he snatched the bubble bath mix off of his hands.

“Me and BMO wanna make a huge bubble flood, Unkie Jakey! Isn’t it cool?” Flax giggled while being submerged in the stuffy pink bubbles that spilled out of the tub.

“Yes, Jake! This is so fun! Haha!” BMO chirped, sitting on top of Flax's head, splashing and tossing bubbly water around.

“Ngaaaah… BMO! I told you already several times not to let him make a mess inside the treehouse!” Jake scolded as he grabbed a nearby towel to soak the sudsy water up. “Now you two fix yourselves up and head downstairs while I clean this mess. Got it?”

“Okay!” BMO and Flax giggled as they sped out of the bathroom, with Jake shaking his head in amusement at their hyperactive behavior. The two went to the bedroom as Bmo sat down and waited for Flax to put on his clothes, which were hanging by the footrest of Finn’s bed. His usual attire consisted of his dark teal shorts, an aqua-colored button vest over a white T-shirt, a pair of boots with socks, and a bear hat with dome-shaped ears in comparison with Finn’s own cap.

“You want to play with me and Football later? We have planned a game we usually like to play, and Football agreed for a third party.” BMO said as Flax went to them.

“If it’s another one about finding the object, I don’t think it would be as much fun as the first time. Before Unkie stopped me.” Flax crossed his arms and pouted. Even when it comes to playing games, there were limits that he has to observe. Otherwise, he could have damaged more of the place like the last time he did.

_For his own good_ , they said.

“Well, we could find a different game to play later!” BMO stretched their arms over to Flax as he lets them ride on his back. The homunculus then descended through the ladder and headed over to the table where Finn was waiting for them.

“Hi, Poppa!” Flax greeted him happily as always and hugged his leg. “Where’s Dadda?”

“Just by the roof, honey. He’ll be here in a while.” Finn responded and scooted to let Flax climb onto the seat and sit next to him, his feet now barely touch the floor. “Did you have your bath?”

“Yep! Me and BMO even made this huge bubble flood and make bubble beards and stuff! It was really fun!” The boy clapped his hands enthusiastically.

“Oh uh… okay.” Finn smiled sheepishly at his excitement and looked up, a worried expression drawn on his face. _Oh geez…_

“So Poppa! Are we going somewhere again?” Flax inquired, swaying his feet. “I wanna go somewhere else new!”

“Eh… I don’t know. Don’t you wanna take a look at the books that your Nana gave you?” He asked him, referring to those books given by Princess Bubblegum. ‘Nana Bonnie’ was the titular name that Flax grew accustomed to after having a visit from his creator, just to see how he is doing.

“Mngh, I can just read them anytime, Poppa! I just wanna go on adventures and see cool new things!” Flax whined, crossing his arms as he pressed his head on his genetic father’s side. “There’s nothing much to do here. BMO and Neptr are sometimes busy and even Shelby vanishes off.”

This was the other problem that they have to figure out as well.

See, despite being just a young and innocent little child who is completely normal and has a fast-developing intellect, he attracts more trouble than the boys could ever control. No matter where he goes or where he stays, he draws in a lot of problems for even a group of three or four could ever be dealt with. Whether it would be a fight or some playtime went wrong, it is still rather hefty and tiresome. In addition, even if they left him alone for a couple of hours in a day, something is still bound to happen whether he started the mess intentionally or unintentionally. You know what others say, curiosity kills the cat.

There was a time where a few of their friends volunteering to babysit this boy whenever they have somewhere important to go or hero business to attend to. But even with their own powers or skills to match, they still cannot stop the unimaginable troubles that his endless curiosity conceives. Life-threatening flames would have to be extinguished, a lot of injured folks had to be patched up due to accidents and a lot of mess was needed to be tidied up. Of course, just because he caused such things doesn’t mean they do not want to take up the task anymore. They just cannot find a way to keep him preoccupied and prevent more unnecessary disasters to happen.

“You can always wait for them to be done.” Finn shrugged and patted his head while Flax puffed his cheeks. He doesn’t look too happy about that idea.

“Even then!” He exclaimed, tugging on his cap a little then huffed angrily. “They take too long until they finally come to me and it’s so boring not doing anything!”

“Oh, dear Glob…” Finn mumbled and shook his head. He then looked over at the ladder as he heard two sets of footsteps coming down.

“I just finished mopping off the mess Flax made. What did I miss?” Jake scratched his head as he and Fern went over to the table and sat down along with Finn, Flax, and BMO.

“Hah…” Finn rested his head on his hand as he watched Flax nibbling on a biscuit that he had taken out from the platter in front of them. “Well… I was just trying to tell Flax that if he wants to play and not cause too much trouble without anyone around, he can just read and practice on his own. But, as you can see… he’s not taking it lightly.”

“I have to wait for Poppa and Dadda to get back…” Flax mumbled and looked away in between bites, puffing his cheeks. “And the others here would take too long…”

Jake sighed and shook his amusement. “It’s normal for kids to get bored and do random risky things almost all the time.” He shrugged. “But I get your point.”

“Mm…” Finn slouched on the table, sighing heavily. “As much as I wanna take him around, I can’t just simply take him outside and leave him alone while we do the job! He could get hurt or worse, eaten!”

“Or beaten up to a soft pulp _before_ being eaten...” Fern joined the two, frowning at the idea of the boy being squashed into a pancake. The older three sighed and pondered for a moment in silence. Then, an alarm was set off as Jake checked his pocket watch.

“Well, you two go think ‘bout it. I gotta bounce!” Jake got off his seat as Finn looked over to him. “Where ya heading, Jake?”

“Gotta see Lady a quick bit before stopping by my buddy Prismo.” Jake answered his question as he went for the front door. “You should two should check on Susan and see how she’s doing in the hospital.”

“Yeah, we’ll get to that.” Finn and Fern nodded in agreement. Flax perked up at the sound of her name and tugged on Finn’s shorts lightly. “Can I come too, Poppa? I wanna see

Miss Susan too!”

“Sorry honey but not today.” Finn stood up and patted his head, biting his lip as Flax gave him a disappointed look. “As much as you’re worried for her as well, I and Fern have other plans in going somewhere else after we visit her. So… maybe next time we’ll take you along to see her, ‘kay?” He smiled a bit.

“Fine… I’ll wait for you to get back as always…” His expression was somber, but he understood immediately and pressed no further. Finn nodded as he followed Jake to the door.

“We’ll bring a souvenir for ya once we head back, so be good and stay put.” Fern gave him a light pat before joining the two and waved goodbye one last time before heading off with them, leaving him and Bmo alone.

“Mmph…” Flax slumped his face on the table and groaned, staring at the remaining biscuits on the table before choosing not to eat anymore. He got off from the seat with a sigh then took the platter off the table and headed for the door. “I’ll go feed the duckies, BMO!” He yelled before heading outside to the pond.

The ducks were already waiting for him by the pond as he set the platter by his side. “Sorry for the delay.” He offered an apologetic smile as he fed them peacefully, sighing as he watched them eat. He peered at his reflection on the water’s surface, taking off his hood to let his hair and florals be exposed to the cool morning breeze. Thankfully his own flowers were not crushed nor wilted from being covered by his hood as they still looked fresh and in full bloom.

“What am I going to do...” Flax sat down by the edge of the pond and hugged his knees together. “Poppa and Dadda are always busy, Unkie Jakey has a visiting schedule with his own family, and the rest of the household’s either missing or busy as well…” He mumbled sadly while looking at the sky. “Even the others like Auntie Marcy or Auntie Phoebe are pretty busy too…”

He couldn’t blame them too much anyway. He was aware that they are older than him s they have work, as well as how often their duties stack up on top of one another. He sighed heavily then glanced over to see the ducks finished their biscuits and licked the platter clean of crumbs. He stood up and went to pick up the platter, looking at it in thought.

“Maybe I could continue reading Nana’s books and practice writing so that I can play with Dadda and Poppa later. But they might be tired by the time they got home…” He sighed sadly as he started to head back inside with the platter in his hands.

_SNAP!_

He suddenly stopped in his tracks as he heard the distinctive sound of a twig snapped in half. It wouldn’t be his family returning back from their errands, as it is a bit too early to assume they came back. He looked around hastily, trying to locate where the sound came from. “Who’s there?” He asked, both curious and alert while scanning his area for intruders.

There, his eyes caught a small brown figure fidgeting in between some cacti growing near the stone well. Holding the platter with his free hand, he summoned his trusty Grass Dagger and approached cautiously, making sure to keep the dagger forward in case the strange figure ever thinks of attacking him.

“I may be tiny, but I am mighty whoever you are…!” Flax squeaked as he got near enough to where the figure is hiding. Bracing himself for the ambush, he quickly pushed the cacti down with much strength he could muster.

And then gasped at what he discovered.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours had gone by since they left, and now Finn and Fern were returning from doing their errands. Fern looked a bit more satisfied today, especially since they were tasked to eliminate some brutes nearby that once terrorized a few of the Candy People.

“You could have gone for the kill by snapping the brute’s neck and then stomping down hard on his head once it’s hacked off its bod.” Fern sighed and shook his head, trudging next to Finn while dragging along the head of his favorite kill by the hair. Finn chuckled sheepishly, carrying only the loot they salvaged from the carnivorous brutes’ camp after they dealt with them. Well, a few were slain thanks to Fern while the rest were spared and fled to the outskirts. “Heh well, I’m still considerate and let a couple of them bail out of mercy.”

“You know they’ll come back and finish off what they left behind.” Fern frowned slightly, then it turned into a sneaky smirk with a future plan forming in his mind. “Buuut, that means more slicing and dicing for me to enjoy!”

“Heh, you sure like to slice huh?” Finn raised an amused eyebrow at him. He wasn’t against his idea of being rash and violent with his enemies, but it can be concerning for others to witness his actions.

“It’s a thrilling and rushing experience, Finn! Weren’t you into that as well?”

“Hmm… you could say that. But,” Finn shrugged while walking along the path leading to the treehouse. “I just have my preferences I guess. Whether it feels right for me or not.”

“Suit yourself. But don’t get all jelly when I get more kills than you do.” Fern stuck his grassy tongue playfully as they soon arrived home. He then hummed as he wondered where to store the head away, as he doesn’t want to scare their child and the children at heart living within the household. “Erm… you go ahead while I find a place to hide this head in the meantime. Don’t wanna give the three a scare too early.”

“Okay then.” Finn watched him dragging the head at the back momentarily before knocking on the entrance door with a smile on his face.

“We’re home!” He announced as he stepped inside then shutting the door behind him, taking off his backpack to empty the loot from his inventory. He heard the scurrying of footsteps then nearly fell on his butt as he was being tackled from behind in a hug.

“Welcome home, Poppa!” Flax beamed as he climbed onto his back then onto his shoulders to hug his face. Finn smiled in return and plucked him off before cuddling his small frame in his arms.

“Hey, honey! Have you been good today?”

“Mhm! I have been good!” Finn set him down on the floor as the boy went over to the treasure pile and inspected the loot the two of them retrieved. He looked up to check if there were any traces of mishap or trouble that Flax might leave behind, any sign of unwanted damage caused by his bizarre curiosity, for which he found none to his relief. He then joined Flax as he sat down next to him, raising an eyebrow over the small wooden he was cradling.

“Seems like you hadn’t broken anything or spilled something while we’re gone. I’m impressed!” Finn praised as he patted his head lightly. “I guess tomorrow we can plan our next trip together. Whaddya say?”

“Um… that’s okay! I think I found something else to do to spare the time.” Finn blinked in surprise at his answer. He was going to ask further about what he said before he continued. “I found something else to entertain me besides reading and waiting so you and Dadda don’t have to worry about leaving me alone here!”

“Oh, uhm... what’s that new gig then?” Finn asked.

“Making a mini garden!”

“Well that’s nice I guess.” Finn scratched his head and shrugged at his reply. It got him wondering though if Fern would be into doing that as well, for other reasons besides the most obvious one. “Can I keep this weird looking idol, Poppa? It has these wide looking eyes that reminded me of fishies.”

“Oh sure! You may have it. All the loot here’s ours so we practically own the whole stock.” Finn shrugged again. Happy with the answer, Flax grinned and immediately bolted upstairs to find a place for the idol. Probably by the dresser or the bedside table

“So he’s not gonna come along? I overheard.” Fern came to join Finn as he stood up and shook his head. He sighed, as he was looking forward to showing him an interesting spot he once discovered from riding Starchy’s bike. Of which he hadn’t got it repaired or even went over to see him and apologize.

“Would you be interested in gardening, if I may ask politely?” Finn grinned sheepishly at Fern, receiving a sigh and a roll of eyes in return. “…Besides the obvious reason?”

\---

The next day, and the preceding days after that, whenever the whole gang left the house alone with him, they would always find him behaving accordingly and thankfully not causing any natural disasters that could potentially destroy the entire house. Everyone seems cool with him doing something else to keep himself busy, as long as he doesn’t trash the house a lot out of sheer boredom

Well, everyone except Fern in particular.

Now, Fern is not someone to be called paranoid by the slightest of changes or dents, but he can surely tell when he suddenly pays attention to every little detail his eyes can perceive. Not like he had eyes at the back of his head, but he knows something is amiss or out of the ordinary. And he felt that for sure because he knows that their boy wouldn’t keep a secret towards his own family. And even if he does have some secrets of his own, he knew he would eventually tell them to them and seek advice.

The other day, while Finn went with the boy over to the Candy Kingdom for his weekly scheduled checkup, besides BMO and Neptr, Fern was completely alone on his usual spot on the roof of the treehouse. He got antsy by the time noon struck and decided to check out that mini garden Flax said before.

‘He’s definitely hiding something from us, I can feel it… but I’m not too sure what it could be…’ He frowned to himself while laying down on the roof, still wondering what he could be possibly hiding from them. Maybe a dirty hobo or a formerly captured slave from a terrible territory.

Or maybe something even worse, like a wanted criminal or a nasty kidnapper that would-

He shook his head violently, not wanting to imagine those crummy, staining hands touching his precious little beansprout.

That’s it.

He needs to get to the bottom of this once and for all, for the sake of his safety.

\---

“Hey Finn?”

Fern approached the human, who was playing a platformer game with Bmo on a warm afternoon. Their boy was immersed with his studying in the upstairs bedroom, so that leaves only the two of them excluding the robot. The aforementioned boy looked up to him with a blink after pausing his game. “Yeah Fern? Wassup?”

“Have you been noticing Flax’s strangeness these past few days?” He sat down next to him. “Y’know, right after he found a new hobby to keep him preoccupied?”

“C’mon Fern, he’s just trying to get used to being almost completely alone without us around. What’s the problem with that?” Finn tilted his head sideways while Fern pursed his lips in a thin line.

“Oh nothing much… But the other day while you guys were not around, I was in my usual spot on the roof, you know me. Just chilling and keeping an eye in case any impending danger comes by.”

“And…?”

“Well,” Fern’s gaze lowered a little as he picked up Neptr, who just came rolling by to join the trio. “I checked out of the place where I think the garden would be located, which was the shed nearby. But you know what I found? None!”

“Why a shed of all places though? I don’t recall growing a garden in a shed before.” Finn raised an eyebrow suspiciously, rubbing his chin with his mechanical arm.

“That’s the thing, Finn! Think about it for a sec here. Even if you aren’t into gardening or some relatable jazz, don’t you think that plants need to have at least a spot where sunlight can hit them? Take it from me. I can’t even grow or eat without a single speck of natural light on my grassy skin!”

“…Yeah, I get your point. Something’s definitely up with him.” Finn frowned, already growing suspicious of what Fern reported. Flax is surely hiding something behind their backs.

“What should we do about it then?”

“… We’re gonna have to investigate.”

\----

The next morning after having breakfast that Jake left for them, Finn had strapped on his backpack as he stretched his arms out and let out a loud sigh, placing his hands on his hips. “Alright! Your uncle Jake went to visit your cousins for the day, while both of us have a task from your Nana.”

“Be a good boy and not let any weirdos inside, ‘kay?” Fern rubbed Flax’s head, receiving a smile from the boy. “Okay Dadda, Poppa!”

“Well,” Finn swung the door open and walked out of the door. “See ya later, honey!” He smiled as he and Fern headed outside and closed the door shut. Then, checking to make sure he doesn’t see the two, they slowly backed up by the side of the shack and hid behind the bark of the fort as they crouched low on the ground.

“You sure he wouldn’t suspect us here?” Fern stayed close between the gnarly bark and Finn to make sure he isn’t spot on. Finn peeked a bit then heard the door creaked open as he saw Flax’s head poking out the door.

“Coast seems clear…” Flax swiveled his head around to make sure then stepped outside and shut the door behind him. He then started to walk away on his own, barely noticing the two lads following quietly just behind him.

“Where do you think he’s going anyway…?” Fern spoke in a hushed tone as they followed the boy.

“I have no idea… but wherever he’s going, it might be dangerous. Once we find out where he’s leading us, we have to scold him later.” Finn replied at equal volume. A few minutes of walking later, they were led to a dark patch of trees in one part of the forest, which instantly raised a red flag in regards to his safety. Why did he come here almost every day?

“It’s ridiculously dark here… he could possibly get lost! Or worse, get caught in traps…!”

They eventually stopped when they noticed that Flax stood still and scanned his surroundings. They were wondering what is he doing before he brought his hands in front of him and clapped them together very hard. What WAS he doing?

“Come out! Come out! It’s just me!” He hollered out to something, or someone, out there then paused from his clapping and waited for a moment. For a short moment, there was no response to his call. Until the trio suddenly perked up when they all heard a rustling from the bushes at the right of the boy.

Smiling, he went closer to the bushes and knelt down in front of it. Finn and Fern narrowed their eyes and leaned in a bit closer to see what would pop out of the bushes.

“Hello again!” Flax cheerfully greeted the creature as he lets it climb on and settle on his lap. He brought his other hand over to stroke its two large top leaves as its beady eyes looked up to him. Upon closer inspection, it seems to be an earthy living sentient plant being, with its shape closely resembling a carrot or a turnip. It had stubby roots as their limbs and dark rings carved onto its round, bumpy body. 

“What… is that thing…? Do you have any clue about it, Fern?” Finn raised an eyebrow as he inquired while observing the two at a safe distance.

“I-I don’t know don't ask me..! … I’ve never seen anything like that before…” Fern had a hand on his head as if trying to recall meeting a similar creature like the one Flax is holding. He then shook his head. “Nope.”

“Are you hungry, Manny?” Flax received a shake of its head, confirming that it doesn’t want to eat. It just sat on his lap silently, letting him pet its head. Fern was getting too impatient, the crumpled look on his face is the telltale sign.

“Flax!”

Flax jolted in alert, hearing his name being called as he immediately stood up. He turned his head towards their direction and his eyes widened in shock, seeing his parents coming out from hiding. He clutched onto the plant creature tighter with shaky hands. “D-Dadda! P-Poppa! I-I thought you went to see N-Na- What’re doing here? H-How did you find me?!”

The radish shaped creature perked up at the distressed tone of Flax’s voice, thinking that the two older males were dangerous towards him. It suddenly got in between them, shielding Flax behind him. Finn tried to take a step forward and reach out to Flax, only to hear a hiss as the creature’s face suddenly split itself in half, exposing a wide mouth with sharp teeth. Fern reacted fast, drawing out his blade and baring his teeth at the threatened creature.

“No Manny! Don’t scream, don’t scream!” Flax covered its mouth quickly as he shook his head, trying to hold off the plant creature from doing whatever it is attempting to do to them.

“They’re just my parents. My parents, Manny. They mean no harm to you or to me.” He continued to soothe the creature down as best as he can as if attempting to prevent a further disaster to happen. Eventually, the creature relaxed, understanding its companion’s words and facial expressions surprisingly, and closed their hollow mouth, resealing their lips into a seamless feature on their body. He sighed in relief and stroked its leaves. “Good Manny…”

Fern sighed and knitted his brows together as he scowled before lowering his blade. “Hah… Flax, we were worried about you! I thought were hiding some ugly ruffian or some shady merchant by the back door!”

“I’m sorry... but I-I was being a good boy as usual though! Then one day I stumbled on this lil’ guy…” Flax looked down at Manny, who looked up to him as well. “Manny was hiding near the old well and… I-I couldn’t leave him there.”

“Manny?”

“I named him!” Flax held the wriggling root crop in his hands. “I do not know what kind of creature he is so I decided to give him a name so that I can call him anytime! You should have seen him! He has this scream that can knock out any animal or monster big or small! And... I-I’m sorry…” Flax looked down, immediately recalling why his parents are here in the first place.

Finn sighed and went over to him. “We can’t exactly keep this thing though. What if his family comes looking for him?”

“That’s… the problem.” Flax chewed his lip, petting Manny’s top as he continued. “See, I even asked Manny if he knows where his family is. He did lead me to that spot, but when we got there, it’s empty.”

“Hmm…” Finn rubbed his chin in thought. If he’s okay with it, can he take us there? We’ll be happy to help out and find his family.”

“I guess that’s okay. Is it okay for you, Manny?” The root crop pondered for a moment, before giving them a quick nod as Flax placed him down on the ground. The crop then waddled off, with the Mertens trio following him from behind.

The walk didn’t take too long for the group though, as Manny eventually halted and showed them the area. It was empty, just as what Flax described. Barely a sign of life.

“So, this is where they’re supposed to be?” He received a nod from Manny. “Then let’s go family searching!” So off they went, scouring the decaying forest floor for any traces of the creature’s family or relatives. However, no matter how concentrated they are with the task, they cannot seem to find not even a single speck of life in their vicinity.

“I can’t find any of them! Not even here!” Fern hollered while letting Flax scoop up a docile millipede that was whining from its interrupted nap. While Finn shoved a huge rotten log away, his eyes caught sight of a lumpy mass that sat within a recently dug up hole laid there by someone. He went over to check it out and held his breath in shock. “Oh no… guys, could you come here for a bit? I think you need to see this.”

The three plant beings went over to his spot, curious of what he had discovered. However, they noticed Finn’s mood slightly dampened as he then stepped aside for them to see what he found. Laying in front of them was a pit, its hollowed mouth awaiting for anything to fill its empty belly. However, it was the contents of the pit that gave Flax a sinking feeling, and it isn’t because of the rotting stench or the wrinkling skin of the remains piling inside of it. No, it was the resemblance of the plant corpses that made him want to gag.

Inside the pit, there are hundreds of Manny’s kin that were about to turn into compost. The buzzing of flies and the gathering of insects was an unnerving sight to behold, Flax just wanted to shield Manny’s eyes away from such an image. Finn did that to Flax, however, before looking down at Manny with a small frown. “… You’re the last one left… aren’t you…?”

Manny’s leafy top drooped a little as it nodded in reply, making Flax sulk sadly and hugged the lonely plant creature tighter. The glimmer of hope in its eyes vanished, its leaves cast a gloomy shade over his gritty face.

For the first time (or possibly not really his first, but his for real first time) Fern felt bad for a plant being not related to the Grass Wizard. Who could have done this? He doesn’t know, and they would be unable to know who would do that. Sighing, he bent down and uncharacteristically (perhaps not uncharacteristically) stroked his leaves. “Well, we can’t just leave you alone either, eh?” Fern muttered as Manny wiped its watery eyes, blinking.

“Is it okay to take Manny home then?” Flax looked at both of them.

“I guess why not. We can’t leave this lil’ guy homeless. That’s heartless!” Finn spoke. “But we have to tell your Nana about this thing if you want to keep him or let her take charge of him.”

He soon got out his phone and dialed Princess Bubblegum’s number. “Hey, Peebs! Uh… you’re not too busy today, are you? …Uh well… we wanna show you something that you’d be interested…”

\-----

“So… a mandrake huh?”

PB had her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at the two while taking short glances at Flax playing with Manny the mandrake. They returned to the treehouse shortly after calling the princess to come to see them. By the time they all arrived at the same time, there was a lot of questioning coming straight out of her.

“Mandrake? Is that what they’re called?” Finn watched the two as well before glancing back at the princess. “Well, we were running out of options to keep him distracted, and… it seems that he got attached to our boy somehow so…”

“That’s close to reasonable, okay but you guys know how exponentially dangerous and high maintenance it is to take care of a mandrake? They’re extremely notorious for their ear-splitting cries that could potentially kill you if you aren’t too careful with one.” She crossed her arms as she was making her point. “It’s best for them to be left alone to thrive in favorable conditions than to be introduced to a public setting.”

“But Nana! Manny wants to be with me.” Flax ran up to her with the young mandrake following him, both clinging onto her legs. “Sides… he’s the only one when I first found him…” She blinked when he trailed off at the last statement.

“Only one?”

“Yeah,” Fern answered for him as PB turned her head to him. “We didn’t know at first, but when Finn and I went over to the place to investigate, there wasn’t any more of these guys. Only this lil’ fella here. The rest were… you know, gone. Nada.”

PB hummed as she listened calmly, then felt a tugging on her skirt and looked down to see the mandrake staring directly at her. Dangerous or not, when she peered into its seedy black eyes, she couldn’t help but feel a hint of pity for the root crop creature after learning about what happened to the rest of his kin.

She read a book once about the mandrakes, how difficult they can be obtained or harvested without any appropriate protection against their bloodcurdling cries, and how they are often in high demand for their superstitious properties. So it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to guess that Manny’s own group got harvested, sold, or converted into magical compost, making it the only one left of its kind to remain.

“You’re lucky that this one is still a budding crop, and not a fully matured one. The screams of the younger mandrakes are slightly more tolerable and controllable, but still, too much exposure to their shrilling cries could knock you out cold for several hours.” She stated as she picked up Manny, pleasantly surprised that he behaved himself.

“My best advice is that, since mandrakes like this one would sleep within the dirt, you have to not, under any circumstances, pull it out while it is asleep. You can only pull a mandrake out when you pull them at their exact daylight hours to prevent them from accidentally making them cry or scream. Best to take note of the schedule as soon as you see him pop out the next day.”

She handed Manny back to Flax as he snuggled within his arms. “As for basic needs, it’s almost as similar to raising potatoes or carrots. Give him a dirt bed, enough exposure to sunlight, and simple plant needs. Other than that, I guess it’s fine for him being raised here.”

“So that means I can keep him, Nana?” Flax’s eyes sparkled.

“Only if I can trust you in giving him the utmost care he needs.”

“I will!”

And so, by the next day, he officially began his mini garden with Manny as his first-ever plant and pet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I kinda think that homunculus and mandrake have some alchemic similarities and background so, I decided that mandrake would be a neat companion for him. I think they're cute despite being deadly, both because of their screams and the composition of their bodies.


	8. School and a Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie thinks that homeschooling Flax would not be enough for him to learn many things, so she decided that she should be sent to school. There, the homunculus makes his first friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new year! I deeply apologize for not updating this fanfic for a long time! Three months of a semester is kicking me in the arse and I hate it so bad but... at least I get to update this chapter!
> 
> Do enjoy! (Though you guys have to wait again 'til I can finish the other drafts...)

If there’s one other thing that Flax finds interesting besides reading books, it would have been music.

His love for music wasn’t limited to the types of its genre either. Classical or modern, he loved to listen to anything that is musical or anything that produces music. Once, he wanted to try playing a musical instrument like Finn, however, he had to narrow down his choices since, like Fern, he has no lungs that can make him breathe air. So, wind instruments were out of the question. Thankfully, he picked up an interest in a guitar from watching Marceline rocking out with her bass axe guitar from a few visits to her.

Speaking of which, the Mertens trio, Jake and Princess Bubblegum were staying under the Vampire Queen’s roof for the night to hang out. Flax had been very thoughtful about her one day and was happy to see that she was pleased with his edible gift, which was a few bunches of red grapes that he picked out from the market. His family gladly helps him out with the selecting and purchasing part since he is still learning how to buy things.

Marceline had her hair up as she slowly strummed the strings of her guitar, taking her time as she lets the boy observed her fingers’ movement at each assigned placement. “Playing the guitar is like playing the flute or a piano. Once you get the swing of it, you’d be playing your own tunes in no time.”

“Really? Then I should start practicing how to, Auntie!” Flax’s eyes sparkled with determination. Marceline chuckled and poked his forehead playfully. “Sure you will, lil’ dude. I’m sure you will. But it has a learning curve of its own before you can be as good as I am.”

“Maybe something like a ukulele could be a nice starting point for you, if you want to learn from the queen herself, heh,” Jake suggested, joining the two in their conversation. “Hmm… I’ll see if I can get you one from the music store. That way I can teach you the basics ‘til you get the gist of it.”

“Oh! I want to try a piano or keyboard as well! Or drums like Grandpa Ice King! Can I do that? Can I? Can I?!”

“Whoa there, slow down your picking. One instrument at a time.” Marceline snorted, followed by the two as they laughed altogether and resumed their peaceful chatter on musical instruments and tutorials. Meanwhile, the other half of the group were on the opposite side, observing them while having themselves some refreshments.

Fern hummed to himself and peered at his glass full of apple juice as he attempted to take a sip, ignoring the fact that he cannot taste the flavor of the liquid as it passes through his xylem. Lately, he had been experimenting with different drinks besides water and so far, even though he doesn’t have a sense of taste, he seems to prefer sweeter drinks over others. However, it doesn’t replace his need for plain water.

“How’s the juice, Fern?” Finn asked him.

“Eh, it’s okay I guess. Not much sugar but it’ll do.” Fern shrugged as he took another sip.

Sitting just right next to him, Bonnie was in her casual outfit instead of one of the formal princess gowns she often wears. She appeared to resemble much like a college student in an evening Wednesday class, wielding a pen on one hand and a notepad on the other as she took down notes and looked over to Flax at every second. She seems so strongly concentrated on her observations.

“Peebs!”

“Wah!” She yelped when Finn suddenly clapped his hands in front of her, breaking her intense focus on her note-taking.

“You’ve been furiously scribbling on that notepad and looking at Flax so many times for nearly an hour.” Finn raised an eyebrow while Bonnie cleared her throat awkwardly. “What’s the matter? Something about him bothering you?”

“Hah I… not exactly. It’s just well… From what I documented during these past few weeks after he was born, it appears that he’s growing faster in intellect than I ever expected from a humanoid newborn…” Bonnie placed her stationary down and clasped her hands together as she took a deep breath. She knew that she didn’t make him absorb knowledge as fast as her prodigy sphinx. 

“Is it a bad thing?” Finn asked worriedly, with Fern soon joining in with the same look as his.

“Not necessarily but…” She sighed and looked at them both. “He’s still undergoing his natural development stages and with it, his cognitive skills as well. Until he reached his full fruition, based on the stage he is currently at the moment… it is highly advisable to teach him other basic things than hygiene. Hmm…” Bonnie crossed her arms and closed her eyes, nodding. “In addition to that, a child like him needs to make friends at least as close to his age.”

“You think so?” Fern looked at her.

“Mhm.” The day that Flax got the mandrake and taught him on how to raise one, she immediately knew that he was growing lonely. “Homeschooling him isn’t really enough to cover up while he is still developing. And besides, you both have a lot of priorities at hand so, it could slow down his progress.” She then snapped her fingers and stood up from her chair. “Guys?”

Everyone turned their heads over to her as she nabbed their attention.

“It’s time to get him involved in an educational institution.”

\----------------------------------------------------

At the start of a new Monday, they left the treehouse exactly eight in the morning, as planned. Fern for some reason isn’t too happy for today.

“I don’t think this is a good idea Finn…” Fern muttered while he, Finn, and Jake are walking together with Flax just ahead of them looking as enthusiastic as ever. He was also wearing a new backpack that Bonnie kindly provided for him, which she included some basic stationary stuff such as some pencils, sticky notes, an eraser, and a few notebooks of an appropriate size. Along with that, he has carried a paper bag in one hand as he trotted happily in front of them.

“I don’t think this is such a good ideaaaa…” Fern repeated with a more evident frown on his face. Finn raised an eyebrow at him, puzzled. “Why’d you say that?”

“W-Why, why no- Dude, it’s school!” Fern complained, even though in reality he doesn’t know so much about school. The only thing he does know is that it is boring.

“Yeah, for him to learn and make friends duh.” Finn shrugged. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Wha-What’s wrong with- There are so many kinds! Like, what if he gets beaten up by some losers? Or maybe end up hanging out with the wrong peeps and do no good things?!”

“Fern, Peebs suggested this ‘cause one it’ll help him learn more stuff that none of us know too well. And second, we can’t just keep him cooped up in the house or take him to risky adventures or quests all the time. He needs more friends!”

“It’s not like all schools are like that though.” Jake tried to joke about it. “Plus he’s going to a kindergarten school dude! There are sing-alongs, arts and crafts, all the safe and fun stuff that kids would like! It’s not like a fire would suddenly break out, or dangerous lab experiments going loose. He’ll have those if he goes to high school.” Fern groaned at the last part. That is not reassuring for him.

“Well, here it is, Flax! This here is the school.” Jake pointed it out for him as they stopped by. It was a huge building of reddish-pink cake surrounded by a blue and white striped steel wire fence. Giggles and shouts were heard as assorted Candy children were scattered inside the campus, playing games or hanging out in small bunches.

“Wow! It looks grand!” Flax’s eyes sparkled in excitement, lightly bouncing on his two feet. He was really looking forward to attending this place called a school. If what Nana said is true, he could both learn and make new friends in this place as well!

“Now,” Finn knelt down in front of him and patted his head twice, smiling fondly at the invisible radiant aura his son was giving off. “Be a good boy and always follow the rules. Respect the teacher and be nice with the other kids, ‘kay?”

“Okay Poppa!”

“And if anyone tries to hurt you, fight fire with fire,” Fern added.

“Fern! They’re kids!” Finn glared at him.

I meant he should throw the punch back if anyone tries to mess him up. That’s all.” The grass being shrugged sheepishly, not really much into the pacifist route when it comes to dealing with bullies, or particularly anyone with bad blood. Finn just sighed and held his head before glancing back at Flax. “That one isn’t too helping… J-Just try to not hurt them too much and be good, okay? I don’t want you to get into too much trouble on your first day…”

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll be good in school.” Flax answered with a nod. “Will Poppa and Dadda pick me up when it is over?”

“Mm… we’ll see. But if not, maybe your Unkie or Nana will.” Finn gave him one last pat before standing up. “Well, see you later then!” He waved his hand as he, Fern, and Jake started to walk off, leaving their boy in the custody of the school.

“By Poppa! Bye Dadda! Bye Unkie Jakey!” Flax waved them goodbye and shook his head amusingly as he watched his parents and canine uncle lightly bickering with each other, knowing that they are just worried about him. When they finally vanished off completely, he turned around and smiled excitedly for his first day of school to begin as he gripped on the straps of his backpack. He then heard the bell rang as he looked over to see the teacher holding the bell, beckoning the other children to come inside as soon as possible.

While observing them going inside one by one as he was about to follow them, his eyes caught sight of one that is obviously different from the rest of the children. He could surely tell just by the appearance that he is not candy and is of all flesh and blood, but not even human as well judging by the presence of horns on his head.

‘I wonder who could that be…’ He thought to himself before entering the school building.

\---------

It didn’t take very long for him to find his room. Even though the building was a lot bigger from the inside, he managed to navigate around and locate his room. With some assistance of the staff of course, including Starchy, who seems well acquainted with him and pointed out the directions.

“Oh! You must be the new student that Princess Bubblegum informed me about!” He met up with the teacher assigned to his class as he ran up to her and nodded enthusiastically. “Well, let’s get them to warm up to you on your first day, alright?” She smiled at him as she opened the door and entered inside.

“Everyone settle down now please!” The teacher announced her arrival as the giggling candy children went to take their assigned seats. The larger kid remained quiet and obedient, watching the teacher with a warm smile on his face. Once the teacher set her bag down on the desk, she looked at them side to side before she clapped her hands with a smile like she always does.

“Good morning everyone! I hope everyone’s having a great day today as we have a new student joining us. Please give a warm welcome to Flax the Hybrid!” The teacher said to them as she introduced the homunculus boy inside. Everyone, including the giant boy, blinked in awe at their strange-looking new classmate.

“Hello everyone! My name is Flax. I am happy to be joining you all so I do hope we could all get along together.” He bowed his head a little, still smiling

“Such good manners, dear child. Alright now Flax, take any seat you wish as the class session will begin shortly."

Flax nodded at the teacher’s instruction and walked down through the aisle of chairs, selecting the one that was in between the windows and the larger child before taking a seat. He had an affinity for windows since it is peaceful and sometimes reminds him of home.

While pulling out his notebook and pencil from his oversized backpack, he stole a glance to see the horned kid watching him before he held his breath and returned his attention towards the teacher, appearing to be a bit shy yet curious about him. Smiling and holding back a soft giggle at his actions, he placed his notebook down and wrote down something on the first page before presenting it to the kid. It was a crude drawing of himself (or, at least he thought so) waving happily, with a rough text bubble that says ‘Hi!’.

The kid caught a glimpse and held his breath before giving him a tiny nod as a reply and darting his attention back to the teacher. ‘He must be really shy,’ He thought and decided to have his attention on the teacher for the rest of the period.

\--------

After the first half of the class, the bell rang as it announced recess time. He was about to head out for the break when the horned kid suddenly approached over to his seat and bowed his head apologetically. “I-I’m sorry if I ever disturbed you, n-new classmate! I-I promise I won’t be a bother to you again!”

“Whoa whoa, i-it’s okay! It’s okay!” Flax jerked in surprise at the sudden respectful gesture and waved his arms dismissively.

“I just don’t want to be weird or bad or… something…” The kid murmured as he side glanced, fiddling with his fingers nervously.

“No no it’s fine.” Flax got out of his seat and looked up at him. He was huge, he knows that already. Even though he was practically kneeling to fit himself within the classroom, it took the space of four seats. “I’m quite new and even if I don’t know about you at all, I think you’re a good person.”

“You think so…?”

“Mhm! I can feel that.” Flax beamed, which seemed to calm his classmate down a little. “My name is Flax, but I think you already know that. What’s yours?”

“My name is Sweet P. Nice to meet you, Flax!”

“You too as well, Sweet P! Though… is it okay if I sometimes call you P?”

Sweet P gasped and nodded enthusiastically. He never had anyone giving him a kind nickname before. “O-Okay!” Flax seemed pleased with the answer and grinned. He soon invited him over to have recess with him, for which he agreed without hesitation. When they exited the school building, the two took refuge near one of the trees and talked a bit more, wanting to get to know each other more. It was a pleasant conversation, a little awkward since it was their first encounter but, it is rather nice to have someone to talk to.

“So… you were made by the princess?” Sweet P asked curiously at his new friend when he mentioned his birth. Flax nodded at him, offering half of the sandwich Bmo made for him to Sweet P. He accepted the offer with a smile. “Yeah. A lot of people I know found it weird and crazy at first since well, probably I am one of her first creations that aren’t candy nor anything made of sweets.”

“Oh.” Sweet P hummed and nodded in understanding, knowing what it felt like to be set apart from others. “But, those people are nice to you even if you are… different. Right?”

“Mhm!” Flax beamed, chomping down his sandwich with great gusto. BMO sure makes great Sentient Sandwiches. “They’re like my family now! Besides Poppa and Dadda and Unkie Jakey and everyone else.” He giggled and Sweet P was about to throw in another question when they were interrupted by another voice.

“Hey, you!”

Flax blinked in confusion at the voice calling for his attention, while Sweet P visibly flinched just next to him as if he knew whose voice was it. The grass-human hybrid stood up from their spot and scanned the area in front of him, narrowing his eyes slightly to find the caller. He noticed a triad of Candy children staring at them with looks of contempt. He raised an eyebrow and slowly pointed a finger at himself. “You’re… you’re calling me?”

“Yeah who else, new kid!” The leader of the trio stepped forward with a snarky smirk on his face. Flax seemed a bit confused as to why they are looking at him in that manner. “Who are they, P?”

“They’re meanies.” Sweet P frowned, not wanting his new friend to get into trouble with them. “Flax, you have to stay away from those meanies…”

The biscuit kid with their cap positioned sideways noticed Sweet P straight away and crossed their arms with a grin. “Hah! So you’re friends with the baby man eh?” The Flax frowned slightly at the nickname that was given to his friend. His friend didn’t seem like he would want to fight back at them, despite his face clearly shows a hint of hurt and anger from their name-calling. “Baby man? But he’s not even an adult yet. He’s still a kid.”

“Oh yeah? He’s still a baby man to us!” The young bullies laughed. Sweet P had enough, not wanting to push this any further, and tried to drag Flax away from them. Anywhere else just so he can be alone with the only person that he ever considered a real friend. However, the boy shook his head and stood his ground, casting him a reassuring smile as he glanced back at the leader “Should I be scared of you? We’re both kids you know.”

“Oh? Are you going to try and taunt back lima bean?” The kid raised an amused eyebrow at Flax. He was surprised as he only received a giggle as the hybrid shook his head. “You should practice more on your names though. Bean boy’s already too common, Frisbee.”

The two candy companions behind him gasped as their leader’s eye twitched slightly. “What… did you call me?” The kid hissed, being cat-called by the spectating kids nearby.

“Hey you fight me with your fire, so I throw the fire back at you. Isn’t that fair enough?” Flax innocently shrugged, taking the advice from his Dadda. Not really the best advice for someone as young as him, but it is a standard means of survival in his context. The kid fumed in budding anger, attempting to throw his little fist towards his face, but the bean instantly dodged and swept him off the ground with a light glide of his leg, making him trip and fall.

Sweet P held his breath as he watched the two mess around with each other. While the bully was being aggressive, Flax looked intrigued yet calm as he dodged each kick or punch he throws. He had kept his hands behind his back at the most as if holding back from using his other abilities. At the last punch, Flax ducked down and tossed him off his back before bringing him down to the ground, leaving him panting out of breath from all the stamina loss.

“There. That should be enough to calm your horses down. You shouldn’t be targeting new kids every now and then. You judged them too early, and they suddenly climb up to the top.” Flax helped him up but his hand got slapped away as he got up. “Ugh… Stay away from us you freakazoid!” The group then heard the bell rang as it declared that recess break is over. The triad quickly fled, leaving the two standing there in confusion.

“Flax! Are you alright, sweetie?” They turned to see their teacher running up to them. He nodded and smiled towards her as if nothing has happened. “I’m okay, teacher! But did I do something wrong?” Flax tilted his head a bit. A long sigh escaped her lips as she smiled in return and shook her head.

“No, you haven’t done anything wrong, Flax. I just don’t want your first day here to be ruined by their behavior. But,” She glanced at Sweet P then back at him as he patted the larger kid’s hand soothingly. “I’m glad that, besides what you two were doing earlier, none of you got seriously hurt. Come inside now. The other half of classes will begin shortly.”

Flax and Sweet P nodded as they headed back to their respective room with the teacher.

In the second half, classes resumed smoothly as it does. The teacher was discussing some basic math problems on the board. For him, it was too easy since math is his third favorite subject, besides science and history (even though he wouldn’t be expecting history in kindergarten anyway). Nonetheless, he still writes them down.

He paused for a moment from his note taking and scanned around for any sign of those bullies in his classroom. At first, he thought they were not part of this class and was about to return to his task. His eyes then noticed the three empty seats that were lying just far from the room, located at the second to the last row. “Um… miss? Do we have three known classmates that sit over there?” He inquired suddenly, making the teacher pause from her discussion to check what is he pointing at. “Oh no… yes there are but, oh my, if I can recall, you’ve already met them.”

He hummed at her answer. That confirmed his suspicions. As much as he didn’t want them to mess his day, he didn’t want his teacher’s day to be stressful as well. “I’ll go find them, teacher!” Flax volunteered with a raise of his hand.

“That’s really kind of you but… I don’t think you need to, Flax. I mean, I appreciate the offer but-“

“I-I’ll go with him too, teacher!” Flax glanced at Sweet P, who suddenly stood up from his seat as he raised his hand as well.

“Okay… but please do return as soon as you can boys. Alright?”

They nodded and soon left the classroom to search for their missing classmates.

“Where do you think they could be though?”

“…Outside?” Both of them said at the same time. They looked at each other for a blink before they quickly headed to the school grounds to find the kids. Sweet P had hoisted Flax over his head so that his tiny friend can survey everything above him.

A few minutes have gone by, but none of the kids were spotted. They were about to head back and tell the teacher that they might have possibly skipped classes until Sweet P suddenly halted. He heard faint chattering from a far distance and went over to check it out.

“Over there!” He piped, pointing towards the three tiny figures at the very left to them. They seem to be stuck in a trance-like state as they were fascinated by, what looks like a white unicorn with a pristine coat gazing down at the kids. It let out a soft snort as one of them stroke its hair while the other two had their fingers glide against its fur.

Something seems off about the unicorn though. As innocent and gorgeous it looks, its eyes said otherwise. Flax squinted his eyes a bit to examine the unicorn. By the time the three began to hop on its back, his eyes suddenly shot up in realization as he jumped off of Sweet P.

“No! Don’t ride on it!” It was too late to warn them though. The unicorn then started to whinny as its lustrous white coats began to melt out of its skin. The two backed away slowly from them, while the three were paralyzed in fear. Or rather, they couldn’t seem to move at all as the melted fur began to act as glue, sticking them onto the unicorn’s body.

The candy kid bullies felt a chill ran up to their spines as their eyes met an obsidian pair staring at them, an icy cold snort erupted from the unicorn’s nostrils.

“What’s happening here?” The teacher ran over to where Flax and Sweet P were and gasped at the horrific sight. “Sweet Glob! Why is there a menacing unicorn here?!”

“That’s not just a unicorn, teacher! That’s a kelpie!” Flax once read them from one of Princess Bubblegum’s books on modern bestiary. Kelpies are shapeshifting water-dwelling creatures that can lure victims into their perimeter, tangle them within their kelp-like mane and drown them into the watery depths. They mostly prey on young women and children, and the candy kids were no exception to their rules.

“W-Who’s going to save them…?” Sweet P murmured, quivering next to him. The kids hid behind the teacher or stayed inside the building for their safety. The staff was equally as terrified as them, unable to comprehend what was going on in front of them. Surely, they had seen worse aside from this, but nothing about dealing with fake unicorns or anything related to mimics.

Flax looked at the crowd gathering around him, his lips pursed in a thin line. He felt bad for them. They weren’t prepared for something like this to happen, especially in a school setting. So, he decided to take a step forward for them. Like a natural-born hero.

“If no one else’s going to save them, I WILL!” Before anyone could stop him, Flax bolted over to the kelpie, flicking his hand to summon his blade. Once there, he brought his dagger up close and swung it near to the kelpie’s eye, scaring it and dropping the kids. While the kelpie remained startled, he didn’t waste his time to push the three kids away from it with his vine arm.

“Are you guys okay?” Flax asked with concern as he helped them up. They nodded hastily, their replies cut off as a bloodcurdling screech interrupted them. Flax quickly looked up as two more of the kelpies joined the fray, their noses flared as they don’t look too happy. “No time for resting! Hurry back to the teacher and don’t look back! Tell them to call the princess as soon as possible!” The bullies couldn’t do anything but heed his command as they made a beeline towards the teacher.

“Classmates, could you cover your eyes for a moment? I’ll take care of this.” Flax requested before making his way towards the first kelpie. The horses whinnied and started to gallop towards him. He was ready though as he immediately skidded below them and got behind them. The kelpies halted and snorted, craning their heads as their death glares targeted back to him.

Getting too close to the kelpie would be very dangerous especially for him. If their seaweed mane hasn’t ensnared him yet, then their sticky grimy bodies would. The skin of their true swampy forms behaves like flypaper so touching them would be a big no.

There was the other crazy option though.

Angling his blade, he charged at them again and the kelpies made their move towards him. However, instead of dodging them under, he threw himself upwards in front of them The Candy children gasped and covered their eyes quickly, not wanting to see him get rammed and stampeded on by the horrifying beasts.

And yet, that didn’t happen.

They slowly uncovered their eyes and saw Flax standing in front of them unscathed. His free hand grasped what looked like a soaked bundle of wilted wheat, its wet strands endlessly tangled in different forms. It was not long after they took a glance to where the kelpies are to know what he is actually holding.

Flax cleaned off his blade, grasping tightly onto the sticky sheared strands of kelpie hair as he narrowed his eyes at the enraged herd. His next aim would give him a half and half chance of succeeding or getting squished, but that is fair enough.

The classmates couldn’t do anything but watch him. They then gasped as the boy soon lie down on his belly as soon as the kelpies started to gallop towards him. They covered their eyes, not wanting to see him getting trampled. Little did they know, he was fully prepared.

He first had his arms outstretched into large vines and let them lash beneath the monsters’ legs, making them trip and tumble to the ground in a heap. Before they could even think about getting up, he got to work as he stood up and coiled one of his vines around their legs to keep them in place. His grip isn’t too strong, but it will have to do to buy him some time.

With the strands on his other hand, he swiftly bound the kelpies with their own hair, making sure it is tight yet dissolved enough to immobilize them. With his work finished, he pushed them down the hill with his leg. They could hear their screeching whinnies as they tumbled back into the fog they came from.

“Now stay away from my school, ya hear?!” Flax yelled as he watched them roll down and vanished into thin air. Satisfied with his work, he returned to his class like nothing strange ever happened. Obviously his classmates and teacher were in full shock at what he had done. He just simply tilted his head innocently as he always does.

“…So um, are we still doing the circle activity or not?”

\--------

Classes were soon dismissed early right after the whole fiasco. Princess Bubblegum authorized an emergency evacuation as soon as she received the call from the school principal.

So much for his first day of school. but the safety of the children mattered more so the homunculus had no arguments on that. After having a talk with one of the staff, the princess headed over to where the boy is. He was busy inspecting his school backpack by the flagpole and waved his hand when he saw her approaching him. “Am I in trouble after what I did?” He asked her as he zipped his bag.

Bonnie shook her head, kneeling down while giving him a concerned smile. “It’s a good thing that you acted out fast before something bad happens. But, try not to throw yourself ahead without consulting an adult first okay?” Flax gave her a nod in response before she stood up again. “Your family will fetch you in a while. Right now, I have to do some minor adjustments to the security system for… unnatural occurrences. And maybe have a chat with Rattleballs later on. But… was school okay though?”

He nodded his head enthusiastically, for which she sighed in relief. At least the event doesn’t deter him from going to school ever, so her idea was working as intended “Alright, I’ll be heading off first. Stay safe!” She soon left as he waved her goodbye.

“Hey um… Flax was it?”

Flax turned his face to see the three bullies approaching him, the leader steps forward. He seemed to be feeling a little awkward as he rubbed his palms together and took a deep breath, looking up to him. “Yeah um…we’re sorry about what we did earlier… in your first day. We um-“

Flax shrugged in reply. “It’s okay. You didn’t have to repay me or apologize towards me after I saved you guys.” The leader was about to deny, but he continued on to interrupt. “Yeah, I may get that a lot from others besides you guys anyway. But hey, I help others without asking for a reward at all. I'm no hero.” He gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Just try not to get yourself hurt a lot, classmate! Bad things can happen anytime, in any day.”

With one last genuine smile, he went back inside the building to collect his things, leaving them flabbergasted and puzzled at his positive attitude.

\----

“That was amazing, Flax!”

It was close to sundown as the two friends were spending their remaining time sitting on their usual spot by the cotton candy tree. His first day had been a bit too exciting that it nearly exhausted him. But he recovers his energy instantly after a little rest.

“What do you mean, P?” Flax looked puzzled

“You were not scared of them…” Sweet P looked down at his knees. “Even though those mean kids try to hurt you, or everyone is too afraid to deal with those bad horses, you somehow did it.”

“Well, Dadda told me to ‘fight fire with fire’ so I did!” Flax noticed Sweet P’s confusion when he said that. He probably doesn’t know metaphors yet, he thought. “Oh, not that literally. It just means to give a similar payback to your opponent.”

“I see…” His giant friend nodded and hummed. “Well, I wish I can be as cool as you. When… I had my first day in school, those candy kids hurt my feelings by calling me weird and a baby man…” He sighed sadly, to which Flax gave him a light pat on his knee for comfort.

“Aw P. You’re no baby man. You’re just a kid, even if you are larger than me. But because you’re my first ever friend, I shall help you the next time someone tries to mess you up!”

Sweet P blinked towards him. “You would do that for me?” Flax responded with a quick nod. “A friend to Flax is a friend worth protecting!” He beamed, for which the giant smiled in return. He soon stood up from his spot.

“I better go home now before sunset. I don’t want Mama and Papa to worry about me.” Sweet P dusted off his shorts quickly and picked up his lunchbox and his backpack, slinging it over his shoulders. “See you tomorrow, Flax!” He smiled at Flax.

He nodded and smiled back at him. “Yeah! See you tomorrow too, P!” He quickly got up and climbed up to his face before giving him a bear hug on one side of his cheek before jumping down. Soon, his giant friend left the campus, leaving him relaxing by the cotton candy tree.

His first ever friend on his first day of school! A double bonus!

He spotted the sun going behind the mountaintops as he let out a contented sigh. “Hm… it’s a pretty sunset.”

“Flax!” He perked up as a familiar voice called his attention.

“Unkie?” Flax got off from his place and spotted a yellow lump waving over to him as he was getting closer. He smiled and waved back before running over to him and pounced his belly in a hug. “Whoa haha hey! Sorry to keep ya waiting for so long.”

“It’s okay! The teacher’s inside until six so I can wait that long. Also, you know I can defend myself just fine.” Flax pouted at him. Jake chuckled and nodded, not forgetting about his advancements at all. “Yeah, I know. Come on. Everyone’s waiting for you back home.”

Bidding his teacher goodbye, the dog took his tiny hand as he and Jake headed home together. “So! how was school today, Flax? I bet you had a great time there. Despite that… thing I just recently heard from the princess.”

“It was great, Unkie! The teacher was nice, my classmates were nice too, and learning new stuff was such a blast! And yeah… it has gotten pretty messy... Oh! And I also made a new friend as well!” Flax replied jubilantly.

“A new friend you say? What’s the name of your new pal then?” Jake asked with a curious look.

“Um… He calls himself Sweet P, but I sometimes call him P. He’s very different from my other classmates, but he’s very kind to me.” Jake raised an eyebrow when he spoke his name. “You seem to get along with him quite fast, huh?”

“Mhm! I wish I could get to see him again so that we can play together!”

“Well, you’re in luck, kid. We happen to know his parents for a long time.”

Flax gasped and looked up to him. “So does that mean I could get to see him as often as I like?!” He inquired excitedly, his eyes sparkling with glee. Jake laughed at his sheer excitement and rubbed his head playfully, nodding as he hoisted the boy up. “Yep! Something tells me that you two will become the best of friends ‘til the very end!”

“Yay! Thank you Unkie Jakey!”

The next time he sees him, he’ll surely give him more than just half a Sentient Sandwich.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I sometimes get salty when there isn't much spotlight for our beloved (eldritch?) boy in the show but oh well.

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is appreciated, ehehe....
> 
> Also updates on this story will happen from 2 weeks to a month, depending on how slow or busy I am at the moment. And there's the fixing part so yeah.


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